Library Journal Review: Starred Review. South African historian Van Onselen first glimpsed a news item about Joseph Silver, the head of a pimps??? club, while researching the social history of a mining community. He set out on a 25-year journey to document the life story of Silver, n? Lis, and came to quite a conclusion along the way: Silver was none other than Jack the Ripper. A heretofore unknown Polish Jew, Silver spent his life circumnavigating the Atlantic (under)World living a life in the shadows. He had an obsessive hatred of prostitutes yet made his living off of sexual slavery. Van Onselen meticulously details known Ripper facts compared to known and strongly suspected aspects of Silver???s life and concludes that the circumstantial and coincidental evidence is simply too compelling. While it is clear that Silver was an evil, misogynistic man, and Van Onselen lays out an intriguing case, we will probably never definitively solve the Ripper mystery. Although the use of forensic investigative techniques was being developed in Silver???s lifetime, he managed to stay ahead of the law. He was a master manipulator, even working as a police informer at times. A deeply researched, well-written masterpiece; highly recommended, especially to Jack the Ripper scholars.?Karen Sandlin Silverman, Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.