After reading the book I had trouble sleeping for weeks. Evil has existed since Cain and Abel.
Well I can’t comment on those days because I wasn’t around then ;-), but I think the “anything goes” culture of today feeds the already disturbed.
Yes, In Cold Blood. A masterpiece, IMHO.
I've also heard that this event marked, for all practical purposes, the end of innocense in rural America (IE: people routinely leaving doors unlocked, etc).