Erle Stanley Gardner (left) meets Silas John Edwards, Wickenburg Prison Camp, Arizona, 1953
"The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it." – Joan Didion
Again I have succumbed to that impulse, and I have a new popular-history book coming out on October 6.
The Case of the Autographed Corpse: A Medicine Man and a Mystery Writer in Pursuit of Justice, published by Pegasus Books, tells of judicial injustice in the middle years of the twentieth century in the U.S. Southwest. An influential Apache religious figure, Silas John Edwards, was convicted of murdering his wife on the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona in 1933. The leading evidence against him was a rock found alongside Margaret Edwards’s body, scratched with the medicine man’s initials.
Sentenced to life in prison, Silas John tried for twenty years to prove his innocence. He then wrote a powerful letter to one of the world’s best-selling authors, Erle Stanley Gardner, writer of the Perry Mason mysteries. Gardner was a trial attorney before he turned to writing, and he directed the Court of Last Resort, an organization like today’s Innocence Project that helped wrongfully convicted people. Silas John and Gardner met inside prison and developed a bond, resolving to jointly reinvestigate Silas John’s case and free him from prison.
Please consider pre-ordering The Case of the Autographed Corpse through my own store at bookshop.org.
In Damn History you'll find, as usual, recommendations on good and popularly accessible historical reading, with tips on writing and updates on my own work.
Follow me on X at @Jack_ElHai, on Bluesky at @jackelhai.bsky.social, and on Threads at @jackelhai1.
Contact me by email at [email protected]
Personal Notes
My 2025 book Face in the Mirror: A Surgeon, a Patient, and the Remarkable Story of the First Face Transplant at Mayo Clinic is this year’s winner of the June Roth Memorial Award in medical journalism from the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
A couple of new podcast episodes in which I discuss my book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist and its adaptation into the movie Nuremberg: The Murder Sheet and People Hidden in History.
On June 25, I will give a presentation on The Nazi and the Psychiatrist at a meeting of the International Criminal Court Bar Association.
For my recommendations of popular-history books, search X, Bluesky, or Threads for #popularhistory.
Recent Popular History from All Over
You may find some of these articles behind a paywall if you’ve exceeded the publisher’s allowance of free views.
Is the U.S. stumbling into the same foreign policy trap that afflicted Imperial Japan a hundred years ago?
In centuries past, people used their fingers as memory machines.
Rodney Wilkinson blew up a nuclear power station and then vanished.
The spirit of an alleged child predator continues to guide extremist faith groups.
A prison fire launched the era of great radio journalism.
Ernest Hemingway’s adoration of boxing forever changed the salad dressing industry.
Mysteries surround the ownership of a photo taken moments before JFK’s assassination.
The Radar Girls defended the Hawaiian Islands during World War II.
Ferris Wheels symbolize urban prosperity.
It took 37 years for a stash of stolen rare books to return home.
A writer explores the hidden life stored inside his father’s boxes.
Thirty years ago, a phone call sparked a medical scandal.
Asking “Where are you from?” raises complex thoughts.
It’s a wonder few people appreciate the history of Wonder Bread.
Resources
This video about lobotomy – a topic I know well – exhibits the dangers of AI-generated media. It uses no real images and is almost 100 percent factually wrong.
Gather nonfiction storytelling advice from Ken Burns, Jabari Asim, and others from the recent Power of Narrative conference.
Pick up lessons in nonfiction narrative from the late documentarian Frederick Wiseman.
A California city learned that book censorship does not pay.
A lawsuit succeeded in blocking the Trump administration’s effort to evade the Presidential Records Act.
“Of course it’s alright for librarians to smell of drink.” – Barbara Pym
Housekeeping
To subscribe to Damn History, sign up here.
More next month, and thanks for looking. And you are welcome to forward Damn History in its entirety to anyone.
About me: I'm a history and science writer. I've contributed hundreds of articles to such publications as Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Wired, Scientific American, Discover, GQ, Longreads and many others. My books include The Lost Brothers: A Family’s Decades-Long Search, The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness, Non-Stop: A Turbulent History of Northwest Airlines, and The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Goering, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WW2.
I frequently give talks and lead workshops on the topics of my books as well as on the craft of nonfiction writing. To book me for your event, please contact Jayme Boucher, Hachette Speakers Bureau, at [email protected]. For media outreach and other presentation opportunities, contact Ann Aronson at [email protected].
Please feel free to get in touch.
