In our dreams and fantasies, we are all murderers, leveling whole cities with our unconscious hates and fears. Most of us are content merely to dream. But in some, their dreams lunge out into nightmarish reality: mothers kill their own children; shy, gentle boys become mass murderers; old men lash out in violence. What is it that pushes them beyond fantasies into brutal violence? What are the mental states which lead to murder? How does the mind of the murderer differ from that of a normal person? How does society contribute to murder? Can a murderer be completely sane?

These are just a few of the urgent questions which Fredric Wertham, author of Dark Legend, discusses in The Show of Violence.