![A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald | [Errol Morris]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517Nqo09tqL._SL175_.jpg "A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald | [Errol Morris]")
A Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald
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- Regular Price :$31.49Special Offer: Learn how to get this for $7.49 !
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Average Customer Rating
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LENGTH14 hrs and 31 mins
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RELEASE DATE09-25-12
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AUDIO FORMATS
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Program TypeAudiobook
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PUBLISHER
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Publisher's Summary
Early on the morning of February 17, 1970, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a Green Beret doctor named Jeffrey MacDonald called the police for help. When the officers arrived at his home they found the bloody and battered bodies of MacDonald's pregnant wife and two young daughters. The word "pig" was written in blood on the headboard in the master bedroom. As MacDonald was being loaded into the ambulance, he accused a band of drug-crazed hippies of the crime.
So began one of the most notorious and mysterious murder cases of the 20th century. Jeffrey MacDonald was finally convicted in 1979 and remains in prison today. Since then a number of best-selling books - including Joe McGinniss's Fatal Vision and Janet Malcolm's The Journalist and the Murderer, along with a blockbuster television miniseries - have attempted to solve the MacDonald case and explain what it all means.
In A Wilderness of Error, Errol Morris, who has been investigating the case for nearly two decades, reveals that almost everything we know about that case is ultimately flawed, and an innocent man may be behind bars. In a masterful reinvention of the true-crime thriller, Morris looks behind the haze of myth that still surrounds these murders. Drawing on court transcripts, lab reports, and original interviews, Morris brings a complete 40-year history back to life and demonstrates how our often desperate attempts to understand and explain an ambiguous reality can overwhelm the facts.
A Wilderness of Error allows the listener to explore the case as a detective might, by confronting the evidence as if for the first time. Along the way Morris poses bracing questions about the nature of proof, criminal justice, and the media, and argues that MacDonald has been condemned not only to prison, but also to the stories that have been created around him. In this profoundly original meditation on truth and justice, Errol Morris reopens a famous closed case and reveals that, 40 years after the murder of MacDonald's family, we still have no proof of his guilt.
©2012 Errol Morris (P)2012 Tantor
What the Critics Say
"Bound to be in demand." (Library Journal)
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What Members Say
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"Rocked My World"
Any additional comments?I was always convinced Macdonald was guilty. 100%, no question. The first half of the book didn't impress me. It seemed as if if Morris was just content to spout philosophy. He brings the jackhammer down in the second half and I'm still astonished at the lack of info regarding the Macdonald case I had no idea existed. I doubt Macdonalds guilt but, even if I didn't, the things that occurred during his trials frighten me in the sense that this judicial malfeasance could actually occur in my lifetime.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful -
"Well Done"
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?If you're interested in the Jeffrey McDonald saga (the green beret emergency room doctor convicted of killing his wife and 2 young daughters in February 1970 (now in prison for >30 years), you'll enjoy this book. It's an encyclopedic, microscopic analysis of virtually every whisper and murmur that relates to the case. Every piece of evidence and many pieces that were never made available during the trial are treated with maximum scrutiny - truly no rock left unturned. It's well written. His research is exhaustive. Ultimately, you will have to decide for yourself if you think McD is guilty but Morris will be happy to prejudice you.
What did you like best about this story?It's thorough
Have you listened to any of John Pruden’s other performances before? How does this one compare?No
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?Many
1 of 1 people found this review helpful -
"self-aggrandizing drivel"
Would you be willing to try another book from Errol Morris? Why or why not?No. This book carefully omits evidence that contradicts its premise that MacDonald is innocent, preventing the reader from making an informed decision of his or her own. Also, either Morris doesn't understand the basics of the legal system and didn't bother to learn them, or he deliberately misleads the reader who doesn't know better. This book is written for shock value and has neither literary nor information value.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful -
"Cringeworthy. Bad."
What would have made A Wilderness of Error better?Make it about the crime and the evidence, not about the author.
Would you ever listen to anything by Errol Morris again?Nope.
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of John Pruden?Someone with a recognizable inflection in their voice.
What character would you cut from A Wilderness of Error?The author, who kept including himself in the narrative.
Any additional comments?Save your credits for a better book.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful -
"What a steaming pile of crap that was...."
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?The story jumped around way too much, it seemed as though the author just threw together some random thoughts and gave no consideration to the flow if the story.
What was most disappointing about Errol Morris’s story?The fact that he has it wrong, Jeff MacDonald is most certainly guilty of the crimes for which he is in prison.
How did the narrator detract from the book?He was a bit of a monotone at times.
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from A Wilderness of Error?I would have scrapped the whole project.
Any additional comments?I went into this hoping to hear something that might make me re-think the story of Dr MacDonald and the murder of his family. I came out being more sure of his guilt. This did nothing to sway my opinion.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful