Jon Jefferson

Bill Bass

William M. Bass

A leading forensic anthropologist traces his sometimes grisly work at his Tennessee "body farm" lab and cites his contributions to the investigations of several murder cases as well as his theories about such famous cases as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the mystery of the headless corpse. Reprint.

Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab-The Body Farm-Where The Dead Do Tell Tales

Death's Acre

On a wooded hillside in Tennessee blowflies, bacteria and buzzards feast on human flesh, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. The bodies are buried in shallow graves, submerged in tanks of water, locked in the boots and backseats of cars. They are serving the needs of science in the cause of justice.

Inside the Legendary 'body Farm'

Sarah Sammis

The body farm is a forensic tool invented by Dr. Bill Bass in 1971. Cadavers donated to science are allowed to decompose under a variety of environmental conditions. The progress is documented for use in future forensic investigations.

Death's Acre recounts the career of Dr. Bill Bass and the early years of modern forensic science as it evolved from anthropology. The first hundred pages of this three hundred page book is spent on Bass's early career. As I was most interested in the Body Farm, i found this portion a slog to get through. I did learn a bit about anthropology and working in the desert and on avoiding snakes but it wasn't what I had set out to read.

Fortunately things pick up on page 100. The remainder of the book is a series of fascinating chapters on how environmental factors affect decomposition and the mistakes criminals make when trying to hide or destroy bodies.

Jessica Clem

Katie

On a wooded hillside in Tennessee blowflies, bacteria and buzzards feast on human flesh, unhindered by coffins or mausoleums. They're buried in shallow graves; submerged in tanks of water; concealed under slabs of concrete; locked in the boots and backseats of rusting cars. They are serving the needs of science in the cause of justice. In DEATH'S ACRE Dr Bill Bass, the facility's founder and one of the world's leading forensic scientists, describes how he created it and how the work of he and his colleagues have brought murderers to justice and cleared the names of the innocent. Within a riveting narrative he details his own career and the many criminal cases he has been involved in, bringing forensic science vividly to life and highlighting its crucial role in modern day policing.

Death's Acre Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab-The Body Farm-Where The Dead Do Tell Tales

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