Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder - Kansas Author Talk with Rachel McCarthy James

Name: Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder - Kansas Author Talk with Rachel McCarthy James
Start: 2025-11-12T19:00:00-06:00
Location: Newton Public Library

Schedule

Wed, 12 Nov, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Newton Public Library | Newton, KS

Kansas author Rachel McCarthy James will join us at Newton Public Library to talk about her new book, "Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder."
This is a hybrid program: Attend in person at the library, or click here to sign up for the Zoom Webinar simulcast: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fBfFXtWFTBqs1OGOA-lDAw. Rachel will be joining us in person.
About the Book:
For as long as the axe has been in our hands, we have used it to K*ll. Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology―one that has been with us since prehistory. And just as early humans used the axe to chop down trees, hunt for food, and whittle tools, they also used it to murder. Over time, this particular use has endured: as the axe evolved over centuries to fit the needs of new agricultural, architectural, and social development, so have our lethal uses for it.
"Whack Job" is the story of the axe, first as a convenient danger and then an anachronism, as told through the murders it has been employed in throughout history: from the first axe murder nearly half a million years ago, to the brutal harnessing of the axe in warfare, to its use in King Henry VIII's favorite method of execution, to Lizzie Borden and the birth of modern pop culture. "Whack Job" sheds brilliant light on this familiar implement, this most human of weapons. This is a critical examination of violence, an exploration of how technology shapes human conflict, the cruel and sacred rituals of execution and battle, and the ways humanity fits even the most savage impulses into narratives of the past and present.
About the Author:
RACHEL MCCARTHY JAMES was born and raised in Kansas, the daughter of baseball's Bill James and artist Susan McCarthy. She graduated from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, where she studied writing and politics. Her first nonfiction book, "The Man from the Train," was written in collaboration with her father and published in 2017. She lives with her husband, Jason, and pets in Lawrence, Kansas.