Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies

In 1924, two Jewish University of Chicago students, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, kidnapped and murdered fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks. In the early twentieth century, most Americans agreed that Jewish men were not prone to becoming violent criminals. The Leopold and Loeb case thus shocked the American public. How did Leopold and Loeb change the perception of Jews, gender, and violence?

Speaker

Sarah Imhoff is an associate professor of religion and Jewish studies at Indiana University. She is the author of Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism, and co-editor of the journal, American Religion.