Murder by Mail

Mitchel P. Roth (Author) Mitchel P. Roth is Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Sam Houston State University, Texas. His many books include An Eye for an Eye: A Global History of Crime and Punishment (Reaktion, 2014).Mahmut Cengiz (Author) Mahmut Cengiz is an Associate Professor and Research Faculty at the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University. He is co-author (with Mitchel P. Roth) of The Illicit Economy in Turkey: How Criminals, Terrorists, and the Syrian Conflict Fuel Underground Markets (2019).

• Introduction1: Mailbombs: The Early Years2: Opening Salvos3: Suffragettes4: May Day and Nationwide Package Bomb Plot5: Roaring Twenties6: 1930s: War Clouds on the Horizon7: Stern Gang Parcel Bomb Campaign8: 1950s: An Iron Curtain Descends9: 1960s: International Conflict and Personal Vendettas10: 1970s: Mail Bombs Go Global11: 1980s: We Are All, I’m Afraid, Vulnerable12: From Junkyard Bomber to Unabomber13: VANPAC: Walter Leroy Moody, Jr.14: 1990s: Mail Bombs Now a Fact of Life15: MAGAbomber Cesar Sayoc16: The Modern EraReferences BibliographyAcknowledgementsIndex

"The authors document campaigns of letter bombs by anarchists, fascists and national liberation movements . . . Roth and Cengiz have gone to great lengths to collect so many examples across several hundred years . . . Murder by Mail provides absorbing and grizzly insight into this centuries-old deadly tactic that has so rarely been examined." - Kieran McConaghy, Irish Times"A timely book . . . The most notable thing about the history of letter bombs is how little they’ve changed. Their basic construction has stayed the same for more than a century and remains so simple that one of the better-known bombers of recent years, the so-called MAGAbomber, Cesar Sayoc Jr., was a homeless man who built his in the back of his ramshackle Florida van. The bombers, too, seem to be drawn from the same cast of characters: terrorists, spies, jilted lovers, failed businessmen, assorted cranks." - Wall Street Journal"Murder by Mail is a fascinating and well-researched account of a deadly tactic used by terrorists, criminals and others throughout history. Mitchel P. Roth and Mahmut Cengiz have uncovered long-forgotten cases from around the world where various individuals and groups have used letter and package bombs to kill and maim their victims. An impressive book that sheds light on an important topic." - Jeffrey D. Simon, author of The Bulldog Detective: William J. Flynn and America’s First War against the Mafia, Spies, and Terrorists"Murder by Mail is a fascinating historical narrative introducing an understudied problem that finally gets the analysis it deserves. Well written and researched, this book reveals that mail can be deadly to recipients. Investigation into the history of toxic mail reveals important and often overlooked social and political movements." - Louise Shelley, the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair, Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC), George Mason University"According to the U.S. Postal Service the chance of opening a mail bomb is more than 10 billion to one; nor do most mail bombs explode as intended. Re-examining the history of the letter bomb, Roth and Cengiz carefully dissect a central mystery of modern terrorism: the yawning discrepancy between limited means and general effects. Unlike its occasionally gruesome subject matter, Murder by Mail represents a very welcome delivery indeed." - Tim Wilson, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, University of St Andrews"Decades of research on political violence do not preclude me from always learning something new. Murder by Mail: A Global History of the Letter Bomb by Mitchel P. Roth and Mahmut Cengiz, two noted scholars in criminal justice, have written the definitive history of attacks delivered by post. As is often the case, the tactic is far older than we think. Their book begins with the first device in 1712 – loaded pistols rigged to fire at the recipient when the parcel was opened. Informative and a good read, Murder by Mail is destined to become the essential reference work on this unique tactic." - Brian Michael Jenkins, the RAND Corporation, author of Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?