The New Orleans Sniper

On January 7, 1973, shots were fired from Howard Johnson's Motel in New Orleans, LA. Six were killed, ten wounded. After the first sniper was killed, the search continued for others. A thorough police investigation, however, concluded that there had been only one —- whose body was found on the motel roof. How did the idea of multiple snipers emerge? How was it decided that there had been only one after all? More generally, how does anyone come to a decision about the existence or nonexistence of another person? In prose both analytic and engaging, Waksler traces the course of this event and the claims and counterclaims made in the search to explain it. Please visit Frances Chaput Waksler's website for additional information regarding her biography, publications, and more: /

“[We] love this little book. And one feels that the author loves it, too...The book reads like a detective story where the search for the second murderer is the central theme...The book is well written and well structured. The preface frames it biographically, the introduction presents the project, the event, the data and the timeline of key events....In a conclusion some basic features are suggested that proved to be relevant to the constitution of the Other.”

Demonstrates, empirically, the process of continually constituting, unconstituting, and re-constituting —- of persons, places, and things —- that is central to Edmund Husserl's phenomenology. The great value…is its application of a philosophical idea to understanding a concrete event: how we sort through the enormous detail of a happening in order to say it is this way rather than that way. -- Lenore Langsdorf, emerita professor, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
[Waksler's] honest, careful, and detailed phenomenological analysis to disclose the inner and outer horizons of 'evidence' can be generalized and applied to everyday life. This book leads readers to recognize that we always and already depend on hidden performances and taken-for-granted assumptions…. -- Hisashi Nasu, professor of sociology, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
A taut and engaging interweaving of philosophical reflection and criminal forensics….[It] challenges the reader to question some of our most basic notions of what it means to encounter another human being. This book will appeal to a wide-ranging audience, including practitioners and academics in philosophy, sociology, psychology, criminal justice, military science, and forensics. -- Jonathan M. Wender, professor, Law, Societies, and Justice Program/Department of Sociology, University of Washington, twenty-year police veteran
…[A] finely detailed and meticulously documented case study…a primer in sociology….Waksler demonstrates the myriad ways in which thinking…is perturbed and ultimately determined by the social setting in which the existence of an Other is open to question. Its subtext raises serious and sobering questions about the reliability of human observation…. -- Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, independent scholar and courtesy professor of philosophy, University of Oregon
Waksler’s The New Orleans Sniper uses this unique criminal case to show phenomenology in practice. Her work showing how different readings can occur, and how inconsistent evidence is dealt with, remains one of the most accessible and coherent works in the field of phenomenology. This short well-written book should be a supplement for a theory course or graduate seminar on phenomenology. Symbolic Interaction
Human Studies

Frances Chaput Waksler, professor emerita, Wheelock College, phenomenological sociologist, has written in the areas of deviance, sociology of childhood, and medical sociology.

On January 7, 1973, shots were fired from Howard Johnson's Motel in New Orleans, LA. Six were killed, ten wounded. After the first sniper was killed, the search continued for others. A thorough police investigation, however, concluded that there had been only one --- whose body was found on the motel roof. How did the idea of multiple snipers emerge? How was it decided that there had been only one after all? More generally, how does anyone come to a decision about the existence or nonexistence of another person? In prose both analytic and engaging, Waksler traces the course of this event and the claims and counterclaims made in the search to explain it. Please visit Frances Chaput Waksler's website for additional information regarding her biography, publications, and more: /

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