In 1892, the indictment of a proper Victorian young woman of Fall River, Massachusetts, for the hatchet murders of her stepmother and father shocked and divided the nation. After her trial and acquittal, controversy continued, producing a voluminous literature from scholars, amateur historians, and novelists, as well as a television series, movies, and theatrical productions. But Conforti’s Lizzie Borden on Trial is the scholarly treatment that the subject has been awaiting—not that Borden would approve of Conforti’s assessments of her or of the judges who ensured her acquittal. In his richly texture narrative, the interplay of class, ethnicity, and gender will interest readers of this journal, as will his clear presentation of the legal issues that unfolded in the courtroom.
Conforti’s New England connections, not to mention his recent memoir of growing up in Fall River, uniquely qualify him to provide the definitive account of this enduringly fascinating case. Unlike...