Levy Lecture Series Presents: Nina Barrett, writer, bookseller, and author of The Leopold and Loeb Files

Nina Barrett is the owner of Bookends & Beginnings, an independent bookstore in Evanston, and the author of three books and numerous articles, essays, and reviews. In 2009, she curated an exhibition for Northwestern University called The Murder That Wouldn’t Die, which inspired The Leopold and Loeb Files. For this book, she researched primary source material, including court transcripts, confessions, psychological reports, and photographs, culminating in a new perspective on the notorious, mysterious 1924 murder case. It forces us to confront some difficult questions about being human and living in society: Could your child, despite every advantage, turn out to be evil? How can you protect your child from evil? How do we respond to unambiguous guilt? Do we believe in mercy and redemption or vengeance and retribution?