Jack Olsen (June 7, 1925 – July 16, 2002) was an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

known for his crime reporting. Olsen was senior editor-in-chief for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' in 1954. He was

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

bureau chief for ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' and a senior editor for ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' in 1961. He was also a regular contributor to other publications, including '' Fortune'' and '' Vanity Fair''.

Life and career

Olsen was born in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

. He was described as "the dean of true crime

authors In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

" by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and the ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' and "the master of true crime" by the '' Detroit Free Press'' and ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

''. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' called him "the best true crime writer around." His studies of crime are required reading in university criminology courses and have been cited in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' Notable Books of the Year. In a page-one review, the ''Times'' described his work as "a genuine contribution to criminology and journalism alike." Books by Olsen have sold 33 million copies. Several of his books examined the intersection of law and politics during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They include ''Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt,'' ( Pratt, a leader of the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

, was declared innocent and released from prison after serving 25 years on the perjured testimony of a paid FBI informant), and ''The Bridge at Chappaquiddick'' examining the 1969 car crash and death that damaged Senator Ted Kennedy's political career. As Carl Bernstein and

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs ...

write in their book '' All The President's Men'', the book was one of several checked out of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

library by E. Howard Hunt in the course of gathering information about Kennedy that could be used against him in the 1972 presidential campaign. Many of Olsen's most popular works investigated the life histories of violent career criminals. These include studies of

serial rapist A serial rapist is someone who commits multiple rapes, whether with multiple victims or a single victim repeatedly over a period of time. Some serial rapists target children. The terms ''sexual predator'', ''repeat rape'' and ''multiple offending' ...

s such as Kevin Coe (''Son: A Psychopath and his Victims'') and George Russell, (''Charmer''), as well as serial killers (''The Misbegotten Son'' about Arthur Shawcross and ''Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation''). Discussing his lifelong interest in crime journalism, Olsen described a field trip that his college

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

class took to a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

: Olsen's work had social conscience. At Sports Illustrated in 1968, he shook the athletic establishment with a series about black athletes and the discrimination they faced in professional and college sports. Olsen's journalism was recognized with the National Headliner Award, the Chicago Newspaper Guild's Page One Award, the Washington State Governor's Award, and the Scripps-Howard Award. He was described as "the dean of true crime authors" by ''The Washington Post''. His crime studies remain on required reading lists in university criminology courses. In his obituary, ''The New York Times'' described his work as "a genuine contribution to criminology and journalism alike." Olsen lived on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and died on July 16, 2002.

Books

Fiction

*''Alphabet Jackson'' (1974) *''Massy's Game'' (1976) *''The Secret of Fire 5'' (1977) *''Night Watch'' (1979) *''Missing Persons'' (1981) *''Have You Seen My Son?'' (1982)

Memoirs

* ''Over the Fence is Out'' (1961) * ''The Pitcher's Kid'' (2002)

Nonfiction

*''The Climb up to Hell'' (1962) *''Black is Best'' (1967) *''Silence on Monte Sole'' (1968) *''Night of the Grizzlies'' (1969) *''Aphrodite: Desperate Mission'' (1969) *''The Bridge at Chappaquiddick'' (1970) *''The Man with the Candy: The Story of the Houston Mass Murders'' (1974) *''Son: A Psychopath and his Victims'' (1983) *''Give a Boy a Gun'' (1985) *''Cold Kill'' (1987) *''Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell'' (1989) *''Predator: Rape, Madness, and Injustice in Seattle'' (1991) *''The Misbegotten Son'' (1993) *''Charmer'' (1994) *''Salt of the Earth'' (1996) *''Hastened to the Grave'' (1998) *''I: The Creation of a Serial Killer'' (1998) *''The Happy Face Killer'' (2008)

Games and sports

*''The Mad World of Bridge'' *''The Mad World of Bridge'' (Sports Illustrated) *''The Climb up to Hell'' (Harper & Row, 1962), 212 pp. – mountaineering *''Bridge is My Life: Lessons of a Lifetime'', 189 pp. – "by Chas. H. Goren, with Jack Olson" * ''Black is Best: The Riddle of Cassius Clay'' (Putnam, 1967) ; UK edition ''Cassius Clay: A biography'' (Pelham, 1967) – biography of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

:In 1967, Olsen released his authorized biography of Muhammad Ali, titled, ''Black is Best: The Riddle of Cassius Clay''. From the book flap cover, Olsen, writes, "Cassius Clay is far more important as an American phenomenon of the 1960s than as a prizefighter. In his career as a boxer, he followed a traditional, even a stereotyped road to the top for a Negro, but his distortion of the American rags-to-riches story is peculiarly his own." Olsen spent a considerable amount of time around the boxer, subjecting him to several interviews over a two-year time period. Olsen also interviews family members, past training staff, doctors, promoters, and over twenty different sources who worked with Ali. ''

'' called it "the best biography of a sports figure published to date".Werner, M.R. "Cassius-muhammad Is Portrayed With Penetration, Compassion And Wit"
''Sports Illustrated''. March 13, 1967. Retrieved July 23, 2012. * ''The Black Athlete: A Shameful Story; the myth of integration in American sports'' (Time-Life Books, 1968), 223 pp. . * Fran Tarkenton. ''Better Scramble Than Lose'' (Four Winds, 1969) – "by Fran Tarkenton as told to Jack Olsen"

History, politics, and sociology

*'' Night of the Grizzlies'' (1969) *''Silence on Monte Sole'' (1968) *''Aphrodite: Desperate Mission'' (1970) *''The Bridge at Chappaquiddick'' (1970) *''Slaughter the Animals, Poison the Earth'', illustrated by Laszlo Kubinyi (Simon & Schuster, 1971) – LCSH Coyote; Predatory animals—control; Wildlife conservation *''The Girls in the Office'' (1972) *''The Girls on the Campus'' (1974) *''Sweet Street: The Autobiography of an American Honkytonk Scene'' (1974) *''Last Man Standing: The Tragedy and Triumph of Geronimo Pratt'' (2000)

Crime

*''The Man with the Candy: The Story of the Houston Mass Murders'' (1974) *''Son: A Psychopath and His Victims'' (1983) Edgar Award winner *'' Give a Boy a Gun'' (1985) *''Cold Kill: The True Story of a Murderous Love'' (1987) *''Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell'' (1989) Edgar Award winner *''Predator: Rape, Madness, and Injustice in Seattle'' (1991) American Mystery Award winner *''The Misbegotten Son: A Serial Killer and His Victims'' (1993) *''Charmer: A Ladies' Man and his Victims'' (1994) *''Salt of the Earth'' (1996) *''Hastened to the Grave'' (1998) *''I: The Creation of a Serial Killer'' (2002)

References

External links

Jack Olsen papers
at the University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archives.

Andrew Vachss, ''New York Times Book Review,'' March 14, 1993. Review of Olsen's book, ''The Misbegotten Son''.
''Jack Olsen,''
Author's biographical entry at HistoryLink
The Jack Olsen Homepage
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Jack 1925 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists American crime writers American male journalists American male novelists American non-fiction crime writers Chicago Sun-Times people American contract bridge writers Criminal investigation Edgar Award winners Novelists from Indiana Time (magazine) people Sportswriters from Indiana Journalists from Indiana Sports Illustrated people