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Cover of The ANATOMY OF MOTIVE by John E. Douglas

The ANATOMY OF MOTIVE

  • 320 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 1999
  • 7 editions

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1 About this book

From legendary FBI profiler John Douglas and Mark Olshaker -- authors of the nonfiction international bestsellers Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and Obsession -- comes an unprecedented, insightful look at the root of all crime.

Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. With the brilliant insight he brought to his renowned work inside the FBI's elite serial-crime unit, John Douglas pieces together motives behind violent sociopathic behavior. He not only takes us into the darkest recesses of the minds of arsonists, hijackers, bombers, poisoners, assassins, serial killers, and mass murderers, but also the seemingly ordinary people who suddenly kill their families or go on a rampage in the workplace. Douglas identifies the antisocial personality, showing surprising similarities and differences among various types of deadly offenders. He also tracks the progressive escalation of those criminals' sociopathic behavior.

Good for readers who want: a true life story and true crime.

  • Criminal psychology
  • Biography
  • True Crime
  • Murder
  • Homicide investigation
  • Criminal investigation
  • Officials and employees
  • United States

2 About John E. Douglas

Born 1945

John Edward Douglas (born June 18, 1945) is an American retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent and former unit chief in its Behavioral Science Unit. He is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of criminal profiling and is the bestselling author of Mindhunter.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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