Waste Land

A gripping account of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate’s rampage across Nebraska in the late 1950s. Complete with an update on Fugate’s life today, WASTE LAND compellingly probes not only the mind-set of history’s deadliest juvenile delinquents—but also the tragic end of America’s innocence. 1958. More than a decade before Charles Manson warned parents to beware their homicidal children, nineteen-year-old Caril Ann Fugate embarked on a shocking, eight-day rampage across America’s heartland that left eleven bloody bodies in its wake—including Caril Ann’s parents. In an Ozzie and Harriet era of drive-ins, malts, and tail-finned cars, Starkweather and Fugate embraced the “live fast, die young” credo of The Wild One and James Dean, and touched off the Midwest’s greatest manhunt since John Dillinger. Now, utilizing firsthand interviews, court transcripts, death-row confessions, and never-before-revealed case detail, WASTE LAND shines new light on the dark saga of Starkweather and Fugate—from their first kisses and kills to their capture and convictions. Complete with an update on Fugate’s life today, WASTE LAND compellingly probes not only the mind-set of history’s deadliest juvenile delinquents—but also the tragic end of America’s innocence.