The murder of Elizabeth Short, to become known as the Black Dahila, shocked Los Angles community and baffled both the local police and the federal officers. The country was still healing from the Great Depression and the devastation of World War II. With that being said, the death of a beautiful young woman not only disturbed the city, it also shook the county. Though murder was not uncommon, one as brutal, such as Elizabeth Short’s, was almost unheard of. Zeb Simpson’s book, The Black Dahlia Case: The History of the Unsolved Murder of Elizabeth Short, tries to muddle its way through the who’s, what’s and why’s of the case and it complete unsuccessfulness investigation of it. He discusses the inability of the LAPD to reign in the over zealousness of the press. The countless ways they mishandled suspects and evidence. Simpson’s book is considered slightly different then some historical monographs due to the fact that he is not really presenting an argument. Simpson’s book presents mainly the life of Elizabeth Short, the gruesome details of her death, and the lack and corruption of evidence. After exposing the facts, Simpson leaves it to the reader to make their own judgments. Simpson moves through the life of Elizabeth Short, beginning with her childhood and giving detail into her turbulent …show more content…
Most of Simpson’s resources were internet sites, many of them that would be considered poor, creditable sites, such as blog site. A few of his other sites were news sites, including CBS or the Los Angeles Times. The bulk of the websites he used were crime based, that were managed by individuals and some organizations, the Crime Museum being one such organization. Simpson’s did use one source that does give some credibility to his research, the FBI records from their involvement in Elizabeth Short’s murder. By using such these records, Simpson redeem some his research