Poor research, using an obvious forgery to make a case. ( )

I had never seen the play, but I read this a few years ago. I finally watched the film with Depp last night, and I can say that the play / movie differs considerably in parts. ( )

I had never seen the play, but I read this a few years ago. I finally watched the film with Depp last night, and I can say that the play / movie differs considerably in parts. ( )

This book was a disappointment, not what I was expecting it to be. From the annotation on the back cover I expected it to be a scholarly historical work, with footnotes and such, making the case for Sweeney Todd's existence and chronicling what little is known of his life. Instead, the book provided a few chapters for Todd's life and crimes and his trial, then the second half focused on the impact Todd had on history and all the plays, musicals, etc., done about him. Which is fine if you like that sort of thing, but I had wanted something different. How does the author KNOW all that stuff he wrote about in the biography section actually happened? What are his sources? How do his sources "prove" Sweeney Todd existed? I'm not saying I don't think he existed, but I would like to have seen a lot more evidence and argument provided than what I got. ( )