{{Short description|1994 novel by Caleb Carr}} {{About||other uses|alienism (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox book|<!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = The Alienist | image = Alienist-thumb.jpg | caption = First edition cover | author = Caleb Carr | country = United States | language = English | cover_artist = | series = | publisher = Random House | release_date = 1994 | media_type = Print (hardcover) | pages = 496 | isbn = 0-679-41779-6 | dewey = 813/.54 20 | congress = PS3553.A76277 A44 1994 | oclc = 28798086 | followed_by = The Angel of Darkness }}
'''''The Alienist''''' is a crime novel by Caleb Carr first published in 1994 and is the first book in the Kreizler series. It takes place in New York City in 1896, and includes appearances by many famous figures of New York society in that era, including Theodore Roosevelt and J. P. Morgan. The story follows Roosevelt, then New York City police commissioner, and Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, as their investigative team attempts to solve gruesome murders through new methods including fingerprinting and psychology. The first murder victim investigated is a 13-year-old immigrant who has had his eyes removed, his genitals removed and stuffed in his mouth, and other injuries. The investigators deal with various interest groups that wish to maintain the status quo regarding the poor immigrant population in New York City. The sequel to the novel is ''The Angel of Darkness''.<ref>{{cite web |work=The New York Times |date=September 29, 1997 |title='The Angel of Darkness': Pursuing a Mysterious Kidnapper in Old New York |author-link=Christopher Lehmann-Haupt |first=Christopher |last=Lehmann-Haupt |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/28/daily/angel-book-review.html}}</ref>
The book made best-sellers lists of ''Publishers Weekly'' and ''The New York Times'' the month it was published, and film rights to the story were purchased by producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures. The film studio has since moved the rights over to its television division, where a 10-part event TV series adaptation began its run on January 22, 2018, on TNT.<ref name="Deadline">{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2015/04/cary-fukunaga-anonymous-content-the-alienist-paramount-true-detective-forrest-gump-1201409741/|title=Cary Fukunaga Behind Event TV Series 'The Alienist' Reteaming With Anonymous Content & Paramount|accessdate=December 12, 2015|date=April 14, 2015|first=Ali|last=Jaafar|website=Deadline Hollywood|publisher=Penske Media Corporation}}</ref><ref name="McLehman">{{cite web|url=https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/alienist-jakob-verbruggen-replaces-cary-fukunaga-director-tnt-pilot/|title=The Alienist: Jakob Verbuggen Replaces Cary Fukunaga as Director of TNT Series|accessdate=September 30, 2016|date=September 26, 2016|first=Cindy|last=McLehman|work=TVseriesfinale.com}}</ref> ''The Alienist'' received generally positive reception. ''Booklist'' described it as "superbly atmospheric and compelling",<ref name="hooper" /> ''Forbes'' called the work a "fascinating, fast-paced spine-tingler",<ref name="forbes" /> and author Paul Levine wrote in the ''Chicago Tribune'' "at the end the reader thirsts for another tale of Dr. Laszlo Kreizler".<ref name="levine" /> ''The Houston Chronicle'' characterized it "an out-and-out page-turner",<ref name="bergin" /> and ''The Seattle Times'' noted "Carr brings the dual sensibilities of historian and novelist to the story."<ref name="ament" />
== Plot summary == Narrated from the first-person perspective of John Moore, a crime reporter for ''The New York Times'', the novel begins on January 8, 1919, the day that Theodore Roosevelt is buried. Moore has dinner with Laszlo Kreizler, the famous alienist. Kreizler is surrounded by those he has rescued, including his black servant, Cyrus Montrose, and a boy named Stevie "Stevepipe" Taggert. (Mary Palmer, another patient and Kreizler's housekeeper, is deceased by the time of this dinner.) Together, they reminisce about their times with Roosevelt, but they focus on one moment: the spring of 1896 and their efforts to catch a serial killer on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The novel is narrated in retrospect, with Moore commenting on the events and how they impacted later history.
At 2 AM on March 3, 1896, Moore is awakened by one of Kreizler's servants banging incessantly on his door. Stevie, a young boy whom Kreizler had saved from being institutionalized and who is dedicated to Kreizler, brings Moore to the scene of a crime that Kreizler wants Moore to see. Roosevelt, the police commissioner, is already at the scene. When Moore sees the nature of the brutal murder, he is appalled. The victim, Georgio "Gloria" Santorelli, is a 13-year-old boy who prostituted himself by dressing up as a girl; the boy's wrists are tied behind his back, and he is kneeling with his face pressed on the steel walkway where he was found. Though makeup paint and powder on his face are still intact, his eyes are gouged out, his right hand is chopped off, his genitals are cut off and stuffed between his jaws, he has huge gashes across his entire body, his throat has been slashed, and his buttocks are "shorn off". The policeman at the scene, Detective Sergeant Connor, makes it clear that murders of such victims are usually ignored.
{{Quote box |width=25em | bgcolor=#c6dbf7 |align=right |salign=right|quote="Prior to the twentieth century, persons suffering from mental illness were thought to be 'alienated,' not only from the rest of society but from their own true natures. Those experts who studied mental pathologies were known as 'alienists'."|source="Note" at the beginning of the novel<ref name=Carr>{{cite book |last= Carr |first= Caleb |title= The Alienist |publisher= Random House |year= 1994 |location= New York |pages= [https://archive.org/details/alienist000carr/page/ "Note"] |isbn= 0-679-41779-6 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/alienist000carr/page/ }}</ref>}} At Roosevelt's request, Moore, Kreizler, and he meet the following morning in Roosevelt's office to discuss the case. Kreizler has examined the body and disagrees with the official coroner's report. He connects the Santorelli killing to that of a second case in which two children, Benjamin and Sofia Zweig, were killed and had their eyes gouged out. Roosevelt announces that there are two more murders that match the pattern. Roosevelt decides to investigate, but because Kreizler has such a dubious reputation as an alienist, and because the investigation will become politically difficult, he establishes a base of operations for them outside the police precinct. Politically, Roosevelt cannot afford to be associated with the investigation and is not involved with the day-to-day operations.
Kreizler asks for some young detectives who are open to new methods and receives the help of Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, two Jewish brothers who were hired when Roosevelt began removing corrupt police officers from the force. The Isaacsons bring sophisticated methods, such as the Bertillon system and fingerprinting, to the investigation, although these were not popular in New York City police departments at the time nor accepted in courts of law.
The group begins to investigate the victims, hoping to understand the mind of the murderer by understanding his victims. They interview Georgio Santorelli's mother and discover, for example, that there was discord in his family. Georgio's parents had learned of his being manipulated into performing sexual acts for older boys in school, and the father's response was to try to beat it out of the boy. Georgio eventually left home and lived on the streets as a male-for-male prostitute. They also read the emerging science of psychology, such as the works of William James. Another body is discovered, and the evidence suggests that the victim knew his attacker. The team also deduces that the killer's agility on rooftops suggests that he is familiar with mountain- or rock-climbing.
Kreizler, Roosevelt, Moore, and detective Sara Howard must deal with various interest groups during their investigation who wish to maintain society's status quo, including a corrupt police force, which takes bribes from owners of the brothels whose prostitutes include poor immigrants; the Catholic Church, which is wary of the potential power of an organized immigrant population; the Episcopal Church; and J. P. Morgan.
== Characters == ;John Moore: a New York Times reporter and the narrator of the novel; ;Dr. Laszlo Kreizler: the titular alienist of the novel; ;Stevie Taggert: Kreizler's teenage groom and carriage driver; ;Cyrus Montrose: Kreizler's valet and bodyguard; ;Mary Palmer: Kreizler's housemaid; ;Marcus and Lucius Isaacson: brothers and Detective Sergeants with the NYPD ;Sara Howard: police secretary, friends with John Moore
=== Historical figures === {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * Thomas F. Byrnes * Anthony Comstock * Michael Corrigan * James "Biff" Ellison * H. H. Holmes (mentioned only) * William James * Paul Kelly * Jack McManus * Adolf Meyer * J. P. Morgan * Jesse Pomeroy * Henry C. Potter * Jacob Riis * Theodore Roosevelt * Lincoln Steffens * Franz Boas {{div col end}}
==Composition and biographical background==
[[File:Bellevue Hospital Ambulance, New York Times, 1895.JPG|thumb|Ambulance standing outside Bellevue, a psychiatric hospital, in New York City in 1895]] ''The Alienist'' is set in the neighborhood where Carr lived, and he has spent hours wandering around it. He also spent a lot of time researching his book at the J. P. Morgan Library.<ref name=Capuzzo/> Carr pitched the book as non-fiction, because he was afraid his agent and editor would not accept a fiction book from a non-fiction author. Only when the publisher was on the verge of buying the book did he reveal the truth.<ref name=Purdy>{{cite news|last=Purdy|first=Matthew|title=Writing to Flee the Past|work=The New York Times|date=May 19, 1994}}</ref> The novel "allowed him to exorcise some of his demons, mostly centered on his relationship with his father, which was stormy and sometimes violent."<ref name=Capuzzo/> Carr did not reveal specific details of his family history, but said, "It's safe to assume that I know something about family violence...." and he told ''New York'' magazine, "I'm the only kid in my family who never tried to kill himself...I kind of figured somebody else was going to kill me anyway."<ref name=Capuzzo/>
Carr's natural father, Lucien Carr, was a writer, who in the 1940s was at the center of a group of as-yet unknown writers (Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs). In the summer of 1944, he killed his former scoutmaster, a man who was enamored with him. One night, the scoutmaster supposedly made a move on Lucien Carr, and Carr stabbed him in the chest with his boy scout knife. Carr disposed of the body in the Hudson River, and together he and Kerouac got rid of the knife. Carr was sentenced to two years' jail time and Kerouac a few days.<ref name=Capuzzo/>
Caleb Carr was "fascinated with the psychology of killers, who were subliminally acting out the pain of being controlled by monstrous parents by controlling and killing victims, seeking a release that would never come."<ref name=Capuzzo/> As he explains, "For me it began in New York with the Son of Sam killings while I was in college...I think I can understand some of the kind of rage that's behind what they do. I can't understand the major portion of it because that's what leads to the violence they commit. But I can understand the germ of it."<ref name=Capuzzo/>
==Genre and style==
''The Alienist'' has been called a detective novel, an historical novel, and a mystery novel.<ref name=levine/> It is set in 1896, "the moment in history when the modern idea of the serial killer became available", eight years after the Jack the Ripper case, and at a time when the word "psychopath" was new to scientists.<ref name=Begley>{{cite news|last=Begley|first=Adam|title=Tracking a Serial Killer In Victorian New York|work=Newsday|date=March 31, 1994}}</ref> Like E. L. Doctorow's ''''Ragtime'''', the novel combines fact with fiction.<ref name=levine/> Historical figures such as Lincoln Steffens, Jacob Riis, Anthony Comstock, and J. Pierpont Morgan appear briefly in the novel and interact with the fictional characters.<ref name=Levins>{{cite news|last=Levins|first=Harry|title=On the trail of a murderer – thriller unfolds in 19th-century|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=May 1, 1994}}</ref> Carr includes period details, such as descriptions of "sumptuous meals of turtle soup au clair, Creole eggs, broiled squab, saddle of lamb a la Colbert and 'a liter of smooth, dark Wurzburger (beer) that had a head as thick as whipped cream'".<ref name=levine/>
==Themes== {{Quote box | width = 25em | bgcolor = #c6dbf7 | align = right | salign = right | quote = "The biggest challenge was to study the psychological literature of that day, so that none of my characters would know any more than they *could* have known about psychology." | source = Caleb Carr<ref name="chollet" /> }} In an interview with ''The Record'', Carr stated he wanted to entertain the reader, while also staying faithful to the time period.<ref name="chollet" /> Carr, a historian by training, wanted to find a form of writing where he could meld his interest in fiction with his knowledge of history.<ref name="chollet" /> "The one thing I wanted to show was that people back then are a lot more like people today than we realize," said Carr.<ref name="chollet" /> Carr researched the science and literature of the time period and noted, "The biggest challenge was to study the psychological literature of that day so that none of my characters would not know more than they could have known in terms of psychology. We're talking about a time when Sigmund Freud had just published his first book."<ref name="chollet" />
Author Paul Levine compares Kreizler to Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud.<ref name="levine" /> He likens ''The Alienist'' to ''Ragtime'' by E.L. Doctorow; both stories fuse historical fiction with real characters from the time period.<ref name="levine" /> Levine notes the story serves as a "painless history lesson", and comments that the juxtaposition of J.P. Morgan's lifestyle with " the teeming tenements where police dare not enter", serve as "reminders that crime and class distinction are hardly new".<ref name="levine" />
Carr said that "''The Alienist'' is about how violent behavior is perpetuated from one generation to the next."<ref name=Capuzzo/>
''The Alienist'' "explores the causes of insanity and criminality, and ultimately the nature of evil".<ref name=LehmannHaupt>{{cite news|last=Lehmann-Haupt|first=Christopher|title=Of an Erudite Sleuth Tracking a Madman|work=The New York Times|date=March 29, 1994}}</ref>
Another theme is destiny, and the novel investigates New York City's destiny, "saying its basic character and problems have endured over history".<ref name=Purdy/>
==Reception==
===Sales and marketing=== Random House paid Carr an advance of $60,000 for the book.<ref name="blush">{{cite news | work =New York Times News Service | title ='Alienist' Makes Publisher Blush In Paperback Profits | via =The Deseret News | page =E5 |date =June 26, 1994}}</ref> Paperback rights were sold at auction to Bantam for $1,001,000.<ref name="blush" /> The book made ''Publishers Weekly''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> list of best-sellers in April 1994,<ref>{{cite news | title =Publishers Weekly best-sellers | work =The Cincinnati Post | page =3D | date =April 9, 1994}}</ref> and during the summer of 1994 reached between no. 4 and no. 7 on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.<ref name=Capuzzo>{{cite news|title=Author feeds his romantic, sinister image|last=Capuzzo|first=Mike|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=August 25, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title =New York Times Best Sellers List | work =Austin American-Statesman | page =6 | date =April 17, 1994 }}</ref>
===Reviews=== {{Quote box | width = 25em | bgcolor = #c6dbf7 | align = right | salign = right | quote = "The story feels like a Sherlock Holmes tale, reads like a modern thriller, and is historically accurate." | source = ''The Record''<ref name="chollet" /> }} The book has received generally favorable reviews; "while most critics found it entertaining, some said it was sometimes flabby with historical detail and its prose was less than literature."<ref name=Purdy/> In a review published in ''Booklist'', Brad Hooper calls ''The Alienist'' and Caleb Carr's sequel, ''The Angel of Darkness'', "superbly atmospheric and compelling".<ref name="hooper">{{cite journal | last = Hooper | first = Brad | title = The Alienist (Book review) | journal = Booklist | volume = 96 | issue = 15 | page = 1442 | date = April 1, 2000}}</ref> A review of ''The Alienist'' in ''Forbes'' comments: "Wonderfully evocative of the age, this fascinating, fast-paced spine-tingler never flags."<ref name="forbes">{{cite magazine| title =The Alienist | magazine =Forbes | volume =158 | issue =9 | page =28 | date =October 14, 1996 }}</ref> Writing for ''The Record'', Laurence Chollet notes: "The story feels like a Sherlock Holmes tale, reads like a modern thriller, and is historically accurate."<ref name="chollet">{{cite news | last =Chollet | first =Laurence | title =Authenticity Fills a Novel | work =The Record | page =E05 | publisher =Bergen Record Corp. | date =April 10, 1994 }}</ref> In his review in ''The Gazette'' of Colorado Springs, Victor Greto wrote: "Through his research into the New York of the late 19th century, [Carr] has also fleshed out an atmosphere and a time that, on the one hand, seems grimly real and unapproachably evil, but, on the other, is within our intellectual grasp."<ref name="greto">{{cite news | last =Greto | first =Victor | title =19th century New York comes to life – 'The Alienist' fleshes out a city where decay, indifference coexist | work =The Gazette (Colorado Springs) | page =3 | date =April 10, 1994}}</ref> In her review for ''Tulsa World'', Patricia Ann Jones wrote that the novel "breaks new ground on several fronts. As a historical novel it paints an unrivaled picture of New York. As a thriller it sets a new pace. But as a psychological study it stands completely on its own. The writing is quite simply, superb."<ref name=Jones>{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Patricia|title='The Alienist ' Is Best Seller With Reason – Superb Thriller Explores Mental Illness in 1890s|work=Tulsa World|date=May 22, 1994}}</ref>
In his review of the book for the ''Chicago Tribune'', ''Mortal Sin'' author Paul Levine writes: "the long story never becomes tedious, and at the end the reader thirsts for another tale of Dr. Lazlo Kreizler".<ref name="levine">{{cite news | last =Levine | first =Paul | title =Psychology Yesterday – A Period Mystery Introduces Modern Sleuthing to 1896 | work =Chicago Tribune | page =4 | date =April 17, 1994}}</ref> Kathye Self of the ''Houston Chronicle'' characterizes the work as "an out-and-out page-turner about the first time a 'psychological profile' was used to track down a serial murderer".<ref name="bergin">{{cite news | last =Bergin | first = Kathye Self|title =Hunting the 'imaginary man': Compelling thriller tracks 1890s serial killer with early psychological profile | work =Houston Chronicle | page =23 | date = April 24, 1994}}</ref> Christopher Lehmann-Haupt writes in ''The Tampa Tribune'': "Carr has lovingly evoked not only a physical sense of old New York but the spirit of the time as well, when the powers in charge were worried about unrest among the masses of cheap immigrant labor."<ref name="haupt">{{cite news | last =Lehmann-Haupt | first =Christopher | title =Murder and philosophy | work =The Tampa Tribune | page =6 | publisher = The Tribune Co. | date =May 1, 1994}}</ref> In a review for ''The Seattle Times'', Deloris Tarzan Ament comments: "A contributing editor to Military History Quarterly, Carr brings the dual sensibilities of historian and novelist to the story."<ref name="ament">{{cite news | last =Ament | first =Deloris Tarzan | title =Murder, He Wrote – 'The Alienist' Crackles With History, Colorful Characters | work =The Seattle Times | page =M2 | date =May 1, 1994 }}</ref> In his review for ''The Washington Post'', novelist Jack Katzenbach argued that Carr's impeccable research and rich detail hindered the work's pace but rewarded readers by portraying "the excitement of a world on the verge of change, where invention was the stuff of daily miracle," specifically when it came to forensics.<ref name=Katzenbach>{{cite news|last=Katzenbach|first=Jack|title=Ragtime Ripper|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=March 27, 1994}}</ref>
According to ''The New York Times'', "the only real weakness of the book lies in the stringent rationality of Kreizler's investigation. The more his logic makes sense the less threatening his quarry seems, at least to the reader....The story's fatalism grows tedious....Nor does it help that throughout most of the story none of the major characters are directly threatened by the killer. Of course, it is deplorable that children are being murdered. But none of them figure strongly enough in the story to arouse the reader's visceral identification."<ref name=LehmannHaupt/> Scott Eyman of ''The Palm Beach Post'' was critical of the "flaccid dialogue" and "vague characters".<ref name=Eyman>{{cite news|last=Eyman|first=Scott|title=Tedious 'Alienist' has no place on best-seller list|work=The Palm Beach Post|date=May 15, 1994}}</ref> Hary Levins from the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' noted that the novel does include a few notable anachronisms. For example, the "heroes display an early (and highly improbable) political correctness toward blacks and homosexuals. And his detective team anticipates the feminist movement by enlisting a tough-minded career woman who's unafraid to pack a pistol and spout a bit of scatological English."<ref name=Levins/>
==Adaptations==
===Film=== Carr told the ''Orange County Register'' he had envisioned a film adaptation of his work while writing the story.<ref name="takahama">{{cite news | last =Takahama | first =Valerie | title ='Alienist' author is no stranger to films – Profile: Caleb Carr had a movie in mind when he wrote his book _ and now Hollywood has picked up on the idea | work =Orange County Register | page =e28 | date =July 3, 1994 }}</ref> "I was always aware that if done correctly, this could end up being a great movie. I grew up with the movies. I've written scripts. Movies are something I've always loved," he said.<ref name="takahama" /> Carr thought of Emma Thompson to play Sara, and Anthony Hopkins or Sam Neill to play Kreizler.<ref name="takahama" />
Before the book was published, film producer Scott Rudin purchased the film rights to the novel for $500,000.<ref name="chollet" /><ref name="takahama" /> In June 1993, Paramount Pictures bought the film rights to the novel for $750,000.<ref name="ament" /><ref name="steer" />
In January 1995, ''The River Wild'' director Curtis Hanson was reported to have been in the process of final negotiations with Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures to direct ''The Alienist''.<ref name="steer">{{cite news | last =Busch | first =Anita M. (Variety magazine) | title ='River Wild' Director Set to Steer 'Alienist' | work =Chicago Sun-Times | page =32| date =January 18, 1995 }}</ref> By May 1995, Hanson was signed on as the film's director.<ref name="scouts" /> ''Variety'' reported that the film's producers planned for filming to start in Spring 1995, with an intended Christmas release date in mind.<ref name="steer" /> Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang adapted the book for film.<ref name="steer" /> Scouts for the film visited Philadelphia in May 1995 to consider location shooting in the city.<ref name="scouts">{{cite news | last =Rea | first =Steven | title = "Alienist" scouts take look at Philadelphia | work =The Tampa Tribune | page =6 | publisher =The Tribune Co. | date =May 3, 1995 }}</ref> Film scouts for ''The Alienist'' were particularly interested in Philadelphia's Academy of Music, Eastern State Penitentiary, and Waterworks.<ref name="scouts" />
Paramount Pictures was concerned with the film's budget, which reportedly was almost $50 million.<ref name="pressure" /> By 1997, multiple script drafts from three writers brought costs to approximately $2 million.<ref name="pressure">{{cite news | title =Pressure Applied To 'Alienist' Team | work =San Jose Mercury News | page =12E | date =January 1, 1997}}</ref> After delays in production, Paramount Pictures told the group behind the film they had two months to set the project up at another studio.<ref name="pressure" /> In a review of Carr's sequel ''The Angel of Darkness'', Malcolm L. Johnson of ''The Hartford Courant'' cited concerns over how to depict the mutilation of the murdered prostitutes in the film, writing: "Questions about how to treat this gruesome element has perhaps delayed the film of ''The Alienist.''"<ref name="fallsshort">{{cite news | last =Johnson | first =Malcolm L. | title =Carr's 'Angel' Falls Short of Chilling 'Alienist' | work =The Hartford Courant | page =G3| date =September 14, 1997}}</ref> When in a 1999 online chat with fans, set up by ''Time'' and Yahoo!, Carr was asked if there were film plans for ''The Alienist'' or ''The Angel of Darkness'', he responded: "Only 'The Alienist,' and the attempts have been so bad that I have not yet sold 'Angel' to the movies. What happened was that a producer bought the rights and then decided he had to completely change the characters in the book. We got into a huge conflict, one that is actually ongoing."<ref name="webtranscript">{{cite magazine | title =Novelist Caleb Carr – Transcript from Nov. 3, 1999 | series =Visions of the 21st Century | magazine =Time | date =November 3, 1999 | url =http://www.time.com/time/community/transcripts/1999/110399carr.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20000511154900/http://www.time.com/time/community/transcripts/1999/110399carr.html | url-status =dead | archive-date =May 11, 2000 | accessdate = 2009-05-27 }}</ref>
===TV series=== {{main|The Alienist (TV series)}}
In April 2015, ''Deadline Hollywood'' reported that Paramount Television had decided to use a three-year, first-look production deal they made with Anonymous Content productions to adapt ''The Alienist'' as an event TV series.<ref name="Deadline"/> Jakob Verbruggen was chosen to serve as director after Cary Fukunaga<ref name="McLehman"/> withdrew from the project.
==See also== {{Portal|Books|Psychology}} * Albert Fish * Charlie Chop-off * Prostitution in 19th Century United States
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * Bergmann, Ina, "Jack the Ripper's American Cousins: Representations of Good and Evil in Historical Crime Fiction," ''Representations of Evil in Fiction and Film'', Anglistik – Amerikanistik – Anglophonie, vol. 11, ed. Jochen Achilles and Ina Bergmann (Trier: WVT, 2009) 137–56. * Link, Alex, "City Limits: Fixing New York in Caleb Carr's ''The Alienist''," ''CLUES: A Journal of Detection'' 23.3 (Spring 2005): 31–41. * Tallack, Douglas, "Caleb Carr: Running Away from the Darkness," ''The Detective as Historian: History and Art in Historical Crime Fiction'', ed. Ray B. Browne and Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr. (Bowling Green: Bowling Green State U Popular P, 2000) 251–64.
==External links== * [https://www.17thstreet.net 17th Street] Comprehensive site dedicated to ''The Alienist'' and ''The Angel of Darkness''
{{Caleb Carr novels}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alienist, The}} Category:American historical novels Category:1994 American novels Category:1994 English-language novels Category:Novels by Caleb Carr Category:Novels about American prostitution Category:Novels set in 1896 Category:Novels set in New York City Category:Anthony Award–winning works Category:Random House books Category:American mystery novels Category:Grand Prix de Littérature Policière winners