In Cold Blood, All the President's Men and Midnight in the Garden of Good of Evil all deal with true crimes. Each of the authors takes a different approach to point of view, depending on their unique relationship to the context in which the books take place. Additionally, all three books combine certain elements of journalism and the novel to create works that go beyond simple crime reporting and bring the characters to life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In 1959, the Clutter family was murdered in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. Shortly afterward, Truman Capote arrived to research the case for an article. Six years later, however, Truman Capote produced a groundbreaking new book called In Cold Blood. Capote's intention was to create a new literary genre that told a true story, but read like a novel. Thus, In Cold Blood reenacts the gruesome murders of several members of the Clutter family, written more as a realistic novel than as an example of a journalistic book like All the President's Men. However, both books primarily deal with a real-life murder case. Yet Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil differs significantly from the other two works, making a murder merely the central tile of a much larger mosaic. Additionally, much of the interest in Midnight centers on location and not plot. Indeed, one might well suggest that the most important character in the book is not Jim Williams, but rather the town of Savannah, whose description - "it is a town where gentlemen own their own ties and tails- white pies" - is supposed to be the following. a tribute to the particularity of its citizens. The setting of In Cold Blood is also important, but the small town of Holcomb, Kansas is depicted as if it hadn't changed since the Depression. Where Berendt makes Savannah look as distinctive as its inhabitants, Capote is much more sentimental, using images such as "the beloved piece of prairie where he had always hoped to build a house." The Washington, DC of Woodward and Bernstein contrasts with these two depictions of the setting. As with the rest of this book's narrative style, the nation's center of power is presented bluntly, but with a sinister undertone: the shadows of its tall monuments and gleaming federal structures seem to contain unknown depths of suspicious activity . Thus, the cities whose crimes committed in these three books are important, to varying degrees, in determining the attitude of the authors. Each place differs from each other in time and location. The small farming town of Capote, Kansas, is almost the model of a taciturn community where no one goes out of their way to appear unique; as a result, Capote writes in a clean, uncluttered style. Berendt's Savannah is the exact opposite, a town that revels in its quirky inhabitants, and his narrative also reflects this very open style. Meanwhile, Washington, DC is a city known for presenting a facade that suggests strength and reliability, but one that hides colorful corruption. Again, the author's style reflects this theme. Thus, the time and place of these books are important elements in determining how the narrators write their stories. However, the authors' relationship to these contexts is equally important. For example, at first glance, Truman Capote appears to be one of the most unlikely perpetrators of the era to psychologically penetrate the minds of both victimsand killers in a remote Midwestern town. Capote was already famous not only for his writings, but also for his flamboyant homosexual lifestyle. He couldn't have been further removed from the humble residents of Holcomb or the sociopathic alienation of the killers. However, before he became famous, Capote lived in a small southern hamlet that probably shared much in common with Holcomb; his connection undoubtedly gave him insight. Indeed, among the authors who wrote these three books, it is likely that Capote had the easiest time translating his vision to the general public. Thus, Capote does a pretty good job of using small details that many readers might recognize from their own hometown, such as his description of the abandoned building where the "Dance" sign no longer lit up. The simplicity of his description is also an indication of Capote's empathy for his characters. The Clutter family is presented as a mid-century American ideal, almost like something straight out of a sitcom. Capote describes Mr. Clutter, for example, as both a determined farmer and a respected citizen. Her daughter appears as the living embodiment of one of those characters played by Sandra Dee or Annette Funicello: "a straight-A student, the president of her class, a leader of the 4-H program and the Methodist Youth League, a talented rider, excellent musician (piano, clarinet), annual winner at the departmental fair (pastry, preserves, needlework, flower arrangement)..." (18). Only the fact that these people will be brutally murdered separates them from a thousand other families. While Truman Capote arrived in Kansas from a small southern town by way of New York, John Berendt arrived in one of the iconic towns of old-world southern nobility as nothing less than the traditional enemy: a Yankee from New York. Not only was he from New York, but he wrote for a magazine called The New Yorker. Still, he may have been lucky to choose Savannah as his Southern city of choice: “In fact, we're known for their hospitality, even by Southern standards. Savannah is called the “Hostess City of the South,” you know. Nevertheless, it is precisely Berendt's outsider status that gives his book strength. Berendt's fame and charm grant her access to Savannah staples such as the Married Women's Club, the Black Debutantes' Ball and the legendary Williams Christmas Party. Berendt's mission differs considerably from that of Capote and that of Woodward and Bernstein. The center of these two books is the crime itself; how and why it happened in the first and learn exactly what happened in the second. Berendt, on the other hand, spends a lot of time giving the reader a sense of place before the murder even happens. The goal appears to be to present the elements that could possibly lead to such a crime and the tortuous path to justice that follows. The book's alleged murderer is himself a charming stranger, and it's possible that Berendt identifies most with Williams. Berendt clearly enjoys his cast of bizarre characters, and the intention of the structure seems to be to create the feeling that in Savannah society a scandal of this type is inevitable. Thus, the book stands alongside All the President's Men, but in stark contrast to In Cold Blood, in terms of how the setting might illuminate – and even create – the crime. Where Woodward and Bernstein differ from Berendt is in their attitude toward the characters in their book, although that attitude is shaped by their relationship to the city. This attitude is also reflected in the surprising point of view used by bothauthors. Each of these examinations of a crime is written using a different perspective. Capote attempts to impose omniscience in his narrative, describing not only the events, but also the thoughts of his characters. Berendt uses first-person narration, becoming another character in the vast panorama that is Savannah. Yet the most unique choice was made by Woodward and Bernstein. Since the two investigative journalists are the main characters, one might have expected them to use the first person, perhaps with Woodward writing one chapter and Bernstein the next. Instead, they treat their book the same way they write their journal articles. Although disconcerting at first to read the book's authors referring to themselves in the third person and detached from analytical insight, the purpose eventually becomes clear. Writing in the third person better approximates journalistic objectivity and integrity. The reader is better able to make their own decisions about what techniques and tricks journalists should use to get their story out. The writing style is neutral and lends an authoritarian weight that could be damaged by intrusions into the character's opinions. Moreover, by distancing themselves from their own characters, Woodward and Bernstein make themselves actors in the larger drama rather than simply reporting on it. This is important because the attitude they take towards the people they write about is left entirely up to the reader, including the attitude they have towards themselves. All the President's Men is therefore not a book about politics, but a book about journalism. As the two recent films on the subject indicate, Truman Capote could also have injected himself into his story and made In Cold Blood a closer approach to the Watergate book. It is also true that Woodward and Bernstein could have written their book using Capote's using all the copious notes they collected in an attempt to get inside the heads of those involved in the Watergate scandal. Instead, they have wisely chosen a journalistic approach that only reports what can be verified. The result is that of the three books, All the President's Men is the one that puts the greatest responsibility on the reader to determine where the two authors stand. Ultimately, any analysis of the narrator's attitude in a book about crime comes down to how the author feels about the criminal, and each of these books takes different paths. Obviously the criminal in a crime book, especially if he is convicted and found guilty, is not going to look as good as his victims. However, it is also true that the criminal tends to be presented with more complexity than the victims. This might be partly due, when it comes to murder, to the fact that the writer often does not have access to the victim's mind. It is this very element that makes In Cold Blood the most controversial of the three books. There is no doubt that Capote used dramatic license in presenting the murderers' thoughts. It may be easier to empathize with them than it would have been otherwise. It is quite obvious that Capote does not judge the two killers as harshly as one might expect. It may be difficult to say whether he likes them or not, but there is definitely an attempt to present them as human beings rather than bloodthirsty animals. While many readers may be put off by this idea, it serves to point out that killing them actually makes the state somewhat inhumane. Berendt takes an approach that is both different and similar to that of Capote. Berendt's suspect is not a.