This is a fairly accomplished review of an early disturbing case of mass murder involving the blowing up in 1927 of a primary school in Bath, Michigan, by a local man with an unwarranted chip on his shoulder. The facts of the case are extraordinary and highly disturbing, and the mass murderer, Andrew P. Kehoe, an unfortunately resourceful but extremely bitter man was that very rare creature, a highly organised sociopath. However, for me this book overstayed its welcome, I was not particularly interested in the historical background of Midwest America in the 1920s, it just seemed like padding... Also the fact that the book mainly had to use written sources such as newspaper articles and memoirs robbed it of immediacy and made it seem a little hollow.

An interesting book, but one that was perhaps a little overlong.

In 1927, a set of rigged explosives were detonated, causing the death of 38 students and 6 teachers at the Bath Consolidated School. Andrew P. Kehoe, the man behind the deadliest school massacre in the United States history, was respected in the community until his rage, resentment, and paranoia overtook all reasonable senses. Maniac is a well-researched record of a terrible tragedy and how a town is forced to deal with the aftermath and learn to understand how someone could become a human time bomb. Schechter uses the tragedy of the Bath disaster and shows how it set the stage for the terrors of today.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little A for the ARC.

I received a copy of this book from Little A and Netgalley.
Harold Schechter has done it again, skillfully weaving the context that leads to the histories he writes about.

I'd considered myself a true crime buff but I couldn't remember the details of this case.

This is a gripping telling and absolutely gut-wrenching.

This is one of those books that you know how it's going to end when you start it. It's right there in the title that something horrid is going to happen. Still, as I got to the actual part of the book about the mass killing of school children in Bath, Michigan my heartbroken and couldn't stop reading until I actually finished the book. Though this is the second book I've read by Harold Schechter, this is the one that will stick with me for a while.

What I really liked about this book was how Harold Schechter wrote it. It isn't just facts thrown onto the page and organized in a dry timeline. Instead, Schechter tells the story in pieces. He lays the foundations by telling us the history of Bath, Michigan, and of the Kehoe family. As a reader, you get introduced to people in the town. It's written kind of like a puzzle where you get all the pieces and slowly you see the picture it's forming.

I also really liked that the chapters were small. Schechter draws you a picture of this moment and of this person, then moves on to the next. Sometimes with True Crime, I feel like there is a lot of reputation of facts or a reiteration of something that's already been established. That isn't the case with Maniac and that's what, in my opinion, made this so easy to read. It moves through the timeline of events leading up to the bombing and somehow builds a bit of suspense, at least for me since this is one true crime story I hadn't read.

Another thing I liked about Maniac was how it wasn't just about Andrew Kehoe, the man behind the bombing. Harold Schechter has a whole section about the aftermath of the bombing. He talks about the families, the town, and about other similar crimes that followed. Rarely in the true crime books I've read I have seen that. This wasn't just a book about what drove Kehoe to kill 38 school children, it was also about those that survived, and how this was the start of a horrid trend in our country. So I thought it was great that readers were able to see how Bath, Michigan moved from this terrible event, but never really forgot.

My only real negative about this book was there was a couple of chapters for me that felt like they didn't fit. There were two chapters dedicated to Charles Lindbergh, and I understand that his flight is one of the reasons the Bath School Bombing was pushed out of national headlines, but I didn't feel it warranted two chapters about a man who really had nothing to do with the bombing. There was also a chapter about another crime that set up to explain why the Bath School Bombing was lost to history in a lot of ways, but I didn't honestly feel like we needed an entire chapter dedicated to that crime. I feel like all three chapters pulled away from the events being told and were just sort of the throwaway. In fact, I didn't even read the chapters on Lindbergh and only skimmed the other one.

All-in-all I enjoyed this book and felt it well researched and well presented. Schechter doesn't shy away from the facts or the gore of this book, which there is a bit of gore here and there but nothing excessive. Is it a bit unsatisfying at the end, yes but that has nothing to do with the writing, or construction, of this book. Sometimes the bad guys get an easy end.

This is a difficult book to read but it's important not to forget what happened. Andrew Kehoe was a monster. I habe never heard about the Bath murders till now. It seems as if the author is trying to make connections between this and school shootings now, but it's not really there. What's with Lindgergh, didn't make sense

The Case: On 18 May 1927, Andrew Kehoe, a disgruntled farmer and prominent member of the Bath Township community in Michigan, detonated bomb at the Bath Consolidated School, killing thirty eight children and six adults (including himself). The Bath School Massacre is the oldest and deadliest school massacre in American history.


My thoughts: I've read Ripped From The Headlines a couple of months ago by Harold Schechter and loved it! So, when I see this book is up for request in NetGalley, I knew I had to read it! Thank you Little A, author Harold Schechter and NetGalley for this gifted review copy in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest, I have not heard of this case before, and I am glad to have read about it in this book.
This is not a long book yet there is so much to unpack. Harold Schechter's research takes us through the history of Clinton Country, Bath Township, and background of Kehoe's family before chronicling the events that led to the tragedy on the morning of May 18.

After the bombing, authorities discovered a wooden board on Kehoe's farm fence and stenciled on it with black paint was his final message - "Criminals Are Made, Not Born." Chilling isn't it??

Albeit a horrific tragedy, it quickly faded into obscurity when overshadowed by news of Charles Lindbergh solo flight from US to Europe and Snyder-Gray "Double Indemnity" murder case.

"The Bath School Disaster might be described as a "seven-day horror", although - thanks to the mania surrounding Lindbergh's flight - its grip on the public imagination didn't even last a full week."

I could understand why other cases were being mentioned in this book but to have two chapters about Lindbergh's flight career (which has nothing to do with the case) just baffled me. Otherwise this would have easily be a five-star read for me.

With that being said, this is a good book to go to if you want to learn about this case. I liked how the author covers everything from the history of the place, the tragedy to the aftermath of the case. No doubt this is one heartbreaking and difficult book to read since it involved deaths of schoolchildren, but I am glad to learn about this case.

Pub. Date: Mar 9, 2021

This is the first work I've read by prolific true crime write Harold Schechter. It was okay. The book didn't seem to include any new revelations or research, but rather was a compilation of newspaper articles from the day.

Frankly, the book featured a lot of history on Charles Lindbergh and his solo flight from the US to Europe. While the story played a role in why the Bath massacre isn't more well-known, as the newspaper coverage of it was almost immediately replaced by articles about the aviator's feat, I felt the amount of the book dedicated to aviation was disproportionate simply because it was so unrelated to the actual topic at hand. Yes, it was international news at the time. But why should I book about the bombings in Bath, Michigan and perpetrator Henry Kehoe feature at least 2 chapters about Lindbergh? It seemed incongruous to the story the author should have been telling.

As of a few years ago, there were still survivors of the tragic event alive. The author seemingly made no attempt to contact any survivors or even descendants of them. I don't recall a full list of victims in the book, yet Schechter detailed Lindbergh's last meals before this history-making flight and the aviator's mother's final words to him before his attempt at flying to Europe solo. It just didn't work for me.

Not what I was expecting.Not the murder mystery i though just a history of American murders.Dating though the years could not really get into what the author was trying to describe.

‘On 18 May 1927, Andrew P Kehoe dynamited the Bath Consolidated School in Bath, Michigan.’

I had never heard of this mass killing, which resulted in the murder of thirty-eight children and six adults. Who was Andrew Kehoe, and why did he do this?

Mr Schechter’s exhaustive research takes the reader through the history of the area and the history of the town of Bath before chronicling these events.

Andrew Kehoe was, I read, a local farmer and the school board treasurer. He had been a respected member of the community. But a bad year on the farm, followed by a tax for the support of the school led Andrew Kehoe to be elected to the school’s board where he was both disruptive to management and helpful in that his handyman skills saved the school money.

In addition to planting explosives under the school, he set the building on his farm ablaze after killing his wife. He also destroyed the farm equipment and prevented his horses from escaping the fire.

Andrew Kehoe was behind on his mortgage payments and resentful when his re-election to the school board was not supported. He had stockpiled explosives and used them to deadly effect.

How does a town recover from such atrocity? In addition to those murdered, many were injured.
I read this account, understood the ‘how’ but never the ‘why’.

The book also discusses other mass murders, and how such events are viewed by the public. In the case of Bath, this horrific event was overshadowed by the news of Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight:
‘The Bath School Disaster might be described as a “seven-day horror,” although—thanks to the mania surrounding Lindbergh’s flight—its grip on the public imagination didn’t even last a full week.’

Except, of course for those directly affected.

I have read a couple of Mr Schechter’s books because of my interest in true crime. I have mixed feelings about this book. While I appreciated the research, the context setting and the account of events, I wanted answers that neither Mr Schechter nor anyone else can provide. We know what Andrew Kehoe did, and how, but I do not fully understand ‘why’. Perhaps that is a good thing.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Little A for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

"Maniac" is a book about one of the 1st school mass murders.

While the actual event is the integral topic of the book, much of the content is devoted to the historical accounting of other murderous personalities.

The book goes so far as to give a quite detailed account of Lindbergh's famous flight. In order to justify the large amount of time covering Lindy, we are later told that the media coverage of the Bath Massacre was minute compared to that of the 1st transatlantic flight. Seems more like something to fill the pages.

In any event, I learned alot about how history has handled evil doers, or as pointed out by Schechter angry, white, narcissistic men.

Harold Schechter provides a well researched and straight forward account of the Bath School bombing. An angry man, in plain sight, stockpiles cases of dynamite, presumable to clear rocks and stumps on his farm, and in the dark of night uses that to create a disaster like few others. It's remarkable, although maybe a blessing for the people of Bath Michigan, that this has faded from our nation's memory. Schechter captures the time and provides perspective by including what else was grabbing headlines at that time, notably Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic. I most appreciate that the author stuck to the facts, there were many opportunities for conjecture, but he avoided that temptation and gives the reader a clear presentation of what happened leading up to, and the day of, the tragedy. The inclusion of a chapter on the Double Indemnity Murders was a drawback for me, I didn't see the relevance other than it be contemporaneous.
Thank you to NetGalley and to Little A Publishing for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Oh my goodness but this was an engaging and disturbing story... Like so many parents of a school-age child, I have been horrified and eerily obsessed with the stories about mass schools tragedies. This first-in-class was an absolutely horrific example and it is tragic in and of itself that its memory has largely been ignored and lost to history, dredged up only when something new and equally horrifying happens. They say those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it, and that certainly seems to be the case here... Schechter has done a marvelous job presenting this story in an engaging style that is no less horrifying for its easy read.

This book is subtitled “The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Murderer” and explores the 1927 attack by Andrew Kehoe on the town school in Bath, Michigan USA. This is a relatively slight book and reflects that the killings took place in a small rural community, in the days before mass media as we know it and that it rapidly faded from public memory until recently. Schechter will explore the events on that day and what led up to them; consider the perpetrator, his family and other community members involved in the incident. Much of his knowledge will be derived from newspapers and other contemporary written sources. He will explore why this event – the first major mass killing in an American school – became lost to memory – but how it has now re-surfaced and what both these things say about media coverage of crime.
It is clear from what he says that Andrew Kehoe was a strange man. He lived in a rural community, married late and had no children. His family were largely involved in agriculture on a small scale at a time when there were economic difficulties with these both before and after the First World War. In his later years he apparently had an increasingly grandiose opinion of himself and his capabilities and (to the neglect of his farm) became involved in community roles and activities. But it must be said that when he involved himself in this way he then managed to lose them through his difficult behaviour. He then became seriously disgruntled with a number of people and the community as a whole. But when local residents were questioned about his behaviour after the killings most people- those that survived - claimed that they had seen “nothing wrong” with Kehoe and his violent behaviour was a complete surprise.
But in spite of his questionable behaviour and loss of an official role he did manage to retain regular access to the school (which had a paid janitor) and was allowed to undertake various maintenance duties there – which allowed him to get school keys and regularly visit the school unchallenged. In the 1920s too, the government was selling off excess military explosives to farmers, he was able to acquire quantities of these and top them up with more. Over a period of weeks he visited the school and placed huge quantities of explosives between the floors across the relatively new school unnoticed. With an interest in mechanics and electricity he created his own timers for the school. These set off explosions on the last morning but one of the school year. A day when older pupils would be sitting graduation exams. But he did not stop there, he booby trapped his farm and outbuildings and set them on fire, he murdered and burnt his wife and then loaded his truck with explosives and drove to the rescue site at the school and in spite of heroic attempts to prevent him getting close set off a suicidal explosion killing himself and several others.
By some chance not all the explosives in the school went off – and some residents risked their lives to enter the school and disconnect them. One main block of the school collapsed and local people had to try to shift the debris before trained rescuers arrived, all with lack of heavy lifting facilities. In all over forty people died, most of them children. Before, and as, local towns could provide professional support; long queues of spectators were flooding in to view the scenes blocking the roads. It was a three day wonder. After the funerals and to reflect this interest a small booklet on the event and the deceased was published to raise funds. But otherwise the event faded from attention and press reporting.
Mass killings have regrettably now become common in schools, but more usually guns are used and the perpetrators are pupils current or past. Explosives are more usually now associated with “terrorist” attacks. Now too there would be extensive international publicity and discussion of most mass killings and a key part of that will concentrate on the mental state or character of the perpetrator. Reporting has moved on. But Schechter also makes it clear that the media, then as now, is fickle in what it will cover and that increasingly how much of the background to analysis is derived from other online sources.
So this book largely requires the reader to bring their own analysis, facts, morals and medical issues around this event. But the uncomfortable part is that it displays through Kehoe tropes of disgruntlement with others and sociopathic attitudes that still play themselves out today usually without being recognised or effectively challenged before disaster hits other families.

What a fascinating bit of history! So well researched yet very readable. Using it as a backdrop to the current violence in the US was clever and really reminded me that nothing is really new or much changed no matter how we feel about it. It really is a chilling story and you get a real feeling for Andrew Kehoe.

I’m not usually a big nonfiction person, but I did enjoy this book. It wasn’t the best true crime I’ve ever read, but it was still Informative and interesting. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for review.

I love true crime, but this just didn't hit the spot for me. I'm sure it was well researched, but the pacing was off. That being said, Amdrew Kehoe was one sick SOB and I can't believe I was unfamiliar with the destruction he caused.

I'm not typically a fan of true crime, but I was interested in this particular story so I grabbed this up. Perhaps it was just me and the times we're living in, but it disturbed me greatly, and I will admit I stopped reading about halfway through. I WILL be going back, as I loved the authors writing style and I do want to finish the story, but at the moment, emotionally, I simply can't.

A well-researched look at the Bath School Disaster of 1927. I had never heard of this event, even in the context of recent events so everything about it was new to me. The writing was clear and it even brought me to tears when describing the aftermath of the disaster and the families attempting to find their children among the ruins of the school. I've read a few books by Harold Schechter and this one also does not disappoint. He wraps in a few other historical events that take place during the same period and examines why the Bath School Disaster disappeared from the American conscious so quickly afterward. I highly recommend this for any true crime reader or anyone who wants a look at how the media dictates where our attention lies when it comes to events in the news.

In 1927, a disgruntled and very pettily angry Andrew Kehoe detonated explosives he had planted under the Bath Consolidated School, killing 38 children and five adults (including himself). Kehoe had also set the buildings on his farm ablaze after killing his wife, as well as destroyed his equipment and tied his horses' legs together so they were unable to escape the fire.

In the meticulously researched, quite detailed, and well-written Maniac, Harold Schechter provides the details leading to Kehoe's destruction of the symbol on which he focused his rage and the man who ran it - in fact, the entire history of how the township of Bath came to be in the first place comprises the opening chapters.

Eventually, we get to Andrew Kehoe and his wife, Nellie, who move into Nellie's family's homestead after her parents die. By all accounts, Kehoe is quick to lend a hand when people need it, and asks nothing in particular in return. He is an upstanding member of the community, attends church, and in general never strikes anyone as anything other than what he is.

This changes, though, when the Bath Consolidated School is constructed and a tax is levied for its upkeep and the salaries of those employed there, from teachers to janitor. After a bad year on the farm, Kehoe's rage is directed toward the school, the tax, and the head of the school. He manages to get himself elected to the Board, and immediately begins micromanaging what he can, attempting to torpedo the raise and vacation time of the head of the school, and instead of hiring someone to fix the issues that come up in the school - wiring, installing boilers, plumbing, and so forth - Kehoe, being a mechanically-minded man, does them instead. In his mind, he is saving the school money. In the process, he is also learning details he will use later in his nefarious plans.

When elections for the board come around again, to his shock, Kehoe is not supported by his party, having burned too may bridges with his aggressive and controlling ways. This fuels even more resentment.

By now months behind on his mortgage, Kehoe stockpiles 500 pounds of pyrotrol, an explosive used widely in WWI and manufactured in the millions of pounds by chemical companies in the US. He also purchases dynamite, which seems odd to us today, but both were considered normal ways to deal with things like boulders and tree stumps when clearing land for farming.

From this point, we get a ticking timeline of witness statements: from someone seeing Kehoe take crate after crate into the basement of the school, to movements of student and teachers in the school, to people who first notice Kehoe's farm on fire.

As the clock ticks to 9:45AM, the destruction begins, with more details of where people were, inside and outside the school. Warning: there are some gruesome descriptions of injuries as the people of Bath start digging through the rubble. Included in this part of the narrative is how, after sufficient rubble had been cleared and the dead and injured counted, the men who went into the basement made the horrifying discovery that Kehoe had packed all of the pyrotel he'd purchased in various parts of the basements, all wired to the same ignition battery. The battery was apparently not strong enough to detonate all of the explosives - had it been, the school would likely have been just a crater in the ground, and much of Bath and many of its inhabitants would have been killed.

This takes about half the book. The second half is a discussion of mass (and not so mass) murders and how they are viewed by the public, including bringing up previous mass murders like Bath when subsequent mass murders make the news. It's also a discussion about how atrocities like Bath can be readily forgotten because of other news - Schechter uses Lindbergh's solo, nonstop flight from New York to Paris, for instance, as an example. But, he always returns to Bath. From Columbine to Whitman in the Tower to the Alfred Murrah bombing in Oklahoma to Virginia State to Parkland, he hammers on stories about those hearkening back to Bath, one of the earliest known intentional mass murders in our collective history.

The first half is definitely stronger than the second, and - and this is a point he makes - likely more interesting, because of human nature. The second half, however, is worth the time to read. While the book is geared toward US readers, it would likely be of interest to readers in other countries who take an interest in the history of mass killings (not serial killings; this is not the story of a serial killer).

Five out of five stars.

Thanks to Little A and NetGalley for the review copy.

This book was very well written and you can tell the author did a lot of research. It was a very interesting read and I'd recommend it to any true crime lover.