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Seduced by Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

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Published:
HarperCollins 2009
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
A true crime account and analysis of a California housewife's murder of her husband and the revealing trial that followed.
In October 2002, Susan Polk, the soft-spoken mother of three teenage boys, was arrested for stabbing her husband and former therapist, Dr. Felix Polk, to death. Three years later she was tried for first degree murder, choosing to act as her own attorney in a trial that rapidly devolved into one of the most outrageous media circuses in modern history. To a crowded courtroom, Susan Polk presented her defense—a bizarre story of unethical therapies, abuse, repressed memories, and satanic rituals—and, in doing so, exposed her madness. Carol Pogash was there.
Seduced by Madness is the remarkably compelling, profoundly disturbing true story of the severe dysfunction of an affluent American family, as told by the leading journalist who worked the case. It is a spellbinding re-creation of a troubled life, a marriage, a murder, and a terrifying, inexorable descent into madness.
Praise for Seduced by Madness
"While the background is fascinating, the coverage of the trial is mesmerizing. Pogash takes the characters . . . and creates an edge-of-your-seat excitement. For fans of true crime, psychology, courtroom drama and truth-is-stranger-than fiction, this is a triumph." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
10/13/2009
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780061751202
ASIN:
B000R3NNBI
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Carol Pogash. (2009). Seduced by Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Carol Pogash. 2009. Seduced By Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Carol Pogash, Seduced By Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case. HarperCollins, 2009.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Carol Pogash. Seduced By Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case. HarperCollins, 2009.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 18:31:41
Date Updated:
Nov 23, 2023 10:49:21
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 26, 2024 17:50:10
Last Metadata Change:
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Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
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A true crime account and analysis of a California housewife's murder of her husband and the revealing trial that followed.
In October 2002, Susan Polk, the soft-spoken mother of three teenage boys, was arrested for stabbing her husband and former therapist, Dr. Felix Polk, to death. Three years later she was tried for first degree murder, choosing to act as her own attorney in a trial that rapidly devolved into one of the most outrageous media circuses in modern history. To a crowded courtroom, Susan Polk presented her defense—a bizarre story of unethical therapies, abuse, repressed memories, and satanic rituals—and, in doing so, exposed her madness. Carol Pogash was there.
Seduced by Madness is the remarkably compelling, profoundly disturbing true story of the severe dysfunction of an affluent American family, as told by the leading journalist who worked the case. It is a spellbinding re-creation of a troubled life, a marriage, a murder, and a terrifying, inexorable descent into madness.
Praise for Seduced by Madness
"While the background is fascinating, the coverage of the trial is mesmerizing. Pogash takes the characters . . . and creates an edge-of-your-seat excitement. For fans of true crime, psychology, courtroom drama and truth-is-stranger-than fiction, this is a triumph." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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      • source: —Keith Morrison, award-winning correspondent for Dateline
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        " Nobody knows this case better, or tells it so well, as Carol Pogash." — —Keith Morrison, award-winning correspondent for Dateline

        "Veteran journalist Carol Pogash offers a complex, detailed, and nuanced exploration of the "perfect" Boomer family." — —Dennis McDougal, author of Angel of Darkness

        "The story is utterly compelling, but it took a writer of Carol Pogash's talents to make a book this good." — —Ayelet Waldman, author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits

        "In this electrifying look at the complexities of the Susan Polk murder case, Carol Pogash goes beyond the lurid headlines." — —Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        Starred review from April 30, 2007
        Journalist Pogash recounts and analyzes the story of Susan Polk in a riveting summation of both her life and her sensational trial for the 2002 murder of her husband, Felix Polk. In 1972, when Susan was a bright, troubled 15-year-old, skipping school, spending long hours alone reading serious fiction, she began an intense form of therapy with Polk, a respected and brilliant Berkeley therapist who specialized in adolescence. At some disputed point during the therapy, they began an affair and Felix, 25 years her senior, left his wife and children to marry her in 1981. Pogash, in fairness, points out the liberal therapy theories of the post '60s (Felix was an est follower), but the early inappropriate relationship between Susan and Felix would weigh heavily on their marriage and figure prominently in the murder trial. They had three boys (two of whom testified against their mother) and claimed their eldest, Adam, was subjected to abuse and satanic rituals in the California preschool scandal of the '80s. While the background is fascinating, the coverage of the trial is mesmerizing. Pogash takes the characters—the two DAs, the headline-grabbing defense attorney, Susan (after the attorney's departure from the case) acting as her own counsel, the jury, the courtroom groupies—and creates an edge-of-your-seat excitement. For fans of true crime, psychology, courtroom drama and truth-is- stranger-than fiction, this is a triumph.

popularity
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A true crime account and analysis of a California housewife's murder of her husband and the revealing trial that followed.
In October 2002, Susan Polk, the soft-spoken mother of three teenage boys, was arrested for stabbing her husband and former therapist, Dr. Felix Polk, to death. Three years later she was tried for first degree murder, choosing to act as her own attorney in a trial that rapidly devolved into one of the most outrageous media circuses in modern history. To a crowded courtroom, Susan Polk presented her defense—a bizarre story of unethical therapies, abuse, repressed memories, and satanic rituals—and, in doing so, exposed her madness. Carol Pogash was there.
Seduced by Madness is the remarkably compelling, profoundly disturbing true story of the severe dysfunction of an affluent American family, as told by the leading journalist who worked the case. It is a spellbinding re-creation of a troubled life, a marriage, a murder, and a terrifying,...
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