In the haze of the election fog, grab this book for a great weekend get away. Well written, suspenseful, more than ordinary insight on Wash. DC

"A rollercoaster ride of a mystery that only a Washington, D.C. insider could write."

Othello is by without a doubt my favorite of the plethora of Shakespeare's tragedies. Although Othello himself is quite an intricate character, it was funny and almost ironic how the character that grabbed my observance the most was the villain Iago. Iago, being perhaps Shakespeare's most consummate villain, directly or indirectly seemed to control the minds and hearts of almost everyone he interacted with. Bravery, loyalty, ambition, honesty, and chivalry are all issues addressed within the play, and when combined with a great deal of power struggles, they can create an intense whirlwind of emotions and confusion running high. Othello, even being a powerful and bold general, is easily deceived by Iago as well as are many of the other characters who soon come to find out what it means to be struck by Iago's wrath. All of these things considered, one can easily find themselves engulfed with all sorts of emotions, and be filled with empathy and rage toward the diverse array of characters, maybe even find a little piece of themselves in each one of them. The play can be compared to many of Shakespeare's plays, both comedy and tragedy, in different ways. If you enjoyed the plot of Much Ado About Nothing, or Romeo and Juliet, then you can not go wrong by reading this play. Also, if you like strong women roles and always find yourself identifying easily with those characters in Shakespeare's plays, one of the female characters in Othello, Emelia will be quite a delight. For me, by the last page and last quote of this play, I was literally holding back the tears, and that impact is no exaggeration. If you have yet to read Othello, don't wait another second. Go right now to the nearest bookshelf, dust it off and I promise the pages will just seem to simply turn themselves. Enjoy!

Despite his Machiavellian and snakelike nature, Iago strangely and inexplicably endears himself as the most likeable villain in all of Shakespeare. It can be argued that Iago was unduly wronged in that the noble & educated, yet untested Cassio achieved the promotion of lieutenant over the common & uneducated, yet more battle-proven Iago. Iago also asserts that his blunt and disrespectful wife Emilia has slept around and made a cuckold of him with Othello. Although there is no proof as to the latter charge, Iago is nothing short of the embodiment of a veritable myriad of rage, fury, jealousy, and a relentless and all-encompassing passion for vengeance on The Moor.

Upon reading Othello the first time, I found myself empathizing with the honorable, yet naive General Othello, and even moreso with the innocent and untainted Desdemona, whom Othello "loved not wisely, but too well." After reading Othello the 3rd time, I've come to a greater appreciation for the convoluted and diablolical genius that is Iago - and how masterfully Shakespeare constructed this great character and the storyline of Othello with so fewer characters than is typical of his other great plays. It is with fewer characters that the ingenuity of Shakespeare is allowed to shine. With the likes of Iago, The Bard is able to achieve as great and superior characterization in Othello as in any of his other masterpieces. While he may be the last guy on the block you might invite to dinner, you would be a knave to deny the incomparable surreptitious cunning and genius of Iago nonetheless. As far as the many Othello movies go, I must state that Kenneth Branagh is absolutely masterful and convincing as the sinister Iago. I wholeheartedly recommend Othello to any and all readers who have a flair for both wisdom and entertainment achieved as one.

As a play, "Othello" encompasses many things but more than anything else it is a study of pure evil. Although Othello is an accomplished professional soldier and a hero of sorts, he is also a minority and an outcast in many ways. As a Black man and a Moor (which means he's a Moslem), Othello has at least two qualities, which make him stand out in the Elizabethan world. He is also married to a Caucasian woman named Desdemona, which creates an undercurrent of hostility as evidenced by the derogatory remark "the ram hath topped the ewe".

Othello's problems begin when he promotes one of his soldiers, Michael Cassio as his lieutenant. This arouses the jealousy and hatred of one of his other soldiers, Iago who hatches a plot to destroy Othello and Michael Cassio. When Cassio injures an opponent in a fight he is rebuked, punished, and subsequently ignored by Othello who must discipline him and teach him a lesson. Iago convinces Desdemona to intervene on Cassio's behalf and then begins to convince Othello that Desdemona is in love with Cassio.

This is actually one of the most difficult Shakespeare plays to watch because the audience sees the plot begin to unfold and is tormented by Othello's gradual decent into Iago's trap. As with other Shakespeare plays, the critical components of this one are revealed by language. When Othello is eventually convinced of Cassio's treachery, he condemns him and promotes Iago in his place. When Othello tells Iago that he has made him his lieutenant, Iago responds with the chilling line, "I am thine forever". To Othello this is a simple affirmation of loyalty, but to the audience, this phrase contains a double meaning. With these words, Iago indicates that the promotion does not provide him with sufficient satisfaction and that he will continue to torment and destroy Othello. It is his murderous intentions, not his loyal service that will be with Othello forever.

Iago's promotion provides him with closer proximity to Othello and provides him with more of his victim's trust. From here Iago is easily able to persuade Othello of Desdemona's purported infidelity. Soon Othello begins to confront Desdemona who naturally protests her innocence. In another revealing statement, Othello demands that Desdemona give him "the ocular proof". Like Iago's earlier statement, this one contains a double meaning that is not apparent to the recipient but that is very clear to the audience who understands the true origin of Othello's jealousy. Othello's jealousy is an invisible enemy and it is also based on events that never took place. How can Desdemona give Othello visual evidence of her innocence if her guilt is predicated on accusations that have no true shape or form? She can't. Othello is asking Desdemona to do the impossible, which means that her subsequent murder is only a matter of course.

I know that to a lot of young people this play must seem dreadfully boring and meaningless. One thing you can keep in mind is that the audience in Shakespeare's time did not have the benefit of cool things such as movies, and videos. The downside of this is that Shakespeare's plays are not visually stimulating to an audience accustomed to today's entertainment media. But the upside is that since Shakespeare had to tell a complex story with simple tools, he relied heavily on an imaginative use of language and symbols. Think of what it meant to an all White audience in a very prejudiced time to have a Black man at the center of a play. That character really stood out-almost like an island. He was vulnerable and exposed to attitudes that he could not perceive directly but which he must have sensed in some way.

Shakespeare set this play in two locations, Italy and Cypress. To an Elizabethan audience, Italy represented an exotic place that was the crossroads of many different civilizations. It was the one place where a Black man could conceivably hold a position of authority. Remember that Othello is a mercenary leader. He doesn't command a standing army and doesn't belong to any country. He is referred to as "the Moor" which means he could be from any part of the Arab world from Southern Spain to Indonesia. He has no institutional or national identity but is almost referred to as a phenomenon. (For all the criticism he has received in this department, Shakespeare was extrordinarlily attuned to racism and in this sense he was well ahead of his time.) Othello's subsequent commission as the Military Governor of Cypress dispatches him to an even more remote and isolated location. The man who stands out like an island is sent to an island. His exposure and vulnerability are doubled just as a jealous and murderous psychopath decides to destroy him.

Iago is probably the only one of Shakespeare's villains who is evil in a clinical sense rather than a human one. In Kind Lear, Edmund the bastard hatches a murderous plot out of jealousy that is similar to Iago's. But unlike Iago, he expresses remorse and attempts some form of restitution at the end of the play. In the Histories, characters like Richard III behave in a murderous fashion, but within the extreme, political environment in which they operate, we can understand their motives even if we don't agree with them. Iago, however, is a different animal. His motives are understandable up to the point in which he destroys Michael Cassio but then they spin off into an inexplicable orbit of their own. Some have suggested that Iago is sexually attracted to Othello, which (if its true) adds another meaning to the phrase "I am thine forever". But even if we buy the argument that Iago is a murderous homosexual, this still doesn't explain why he must destroy Othello. Oscar Wilde once wrote very beautifully of the destructive impact a person can willfully or unwittingly have on a lover ("for each man kills the things he loves") but this is not born out in the play. Instead, Shakespeare introduces us to a new literary character-a person motivated by inexplicable evil that is an entity in itself. One of the great ironies of this play is that Othello is a character of tragically visible proportions while Iago is one with lethally invisible ones.

Lay This Body Down is a great book and one which flows quickly and easily. I found myself having trouble putting the book down. Williams is the embodiment of the plantation farmer during the early 20s. Manning is used as a wonderful vehicle for the reader to see what it was like through a "slave's" eyes. I was able to place myself right next to Manning's side throughout the book and could feel the horror/terror that he felt. This is a must read for anyone who has any interest in the history of the south and the way blacks were treated well after slavery was abolished.

Simply unbelievable! This book is based on court transcribed events and if it had not been for that simple fact, the atrocities found within the pages of Lay This Body Down would be incomprehensible. This fact based accounting of the 1921 murders of 11 plantation slaves in Newton and Jasper Counties, Georgia is horrific but sadly true. Yes you read correctly, the year is 1921, not during the officially recognized time of slavery. Slavery was legally over but a new system was rearing its head in the south - peonage. Peonage was a practice given prominence by southern plantation owners to employ workers (read enslave) for cheap or at no cost. If a Negro owed a debt and was unable to pay the debt he would be thrown in prison. With little to no hope of paying his fine -sometimes in amounts as low as a few dollars- he would sit in prison until... Wealthy landowners would visit the prisons and pay these menial fines and the person would be released to this landowner to repay the debt. It could and often did take a lifetime for this person to pay of the debt so they would be Peon's or Slaves to this person. Such is the case of the people found on the John S. Williams Plantation. Mr. Williams and his wife and 12 children occupied land in Newton County, Covington, Georgia. His older boys had plots of adjacent land and too employed peons. The Federal Bureau of Investigation from the Atlanta office had been called in to look at cases of Peonage - which was illegal, and their investigation lead to the Williams Plantation. Mr. Williams not being immediately present on the day the FBI came to call, found these revenuers interviewing his hired hand and overseer, a Negro named Clyde Manning. Understandably nervous and frightened Mr. Manning answered questions posed to him truthfully but they conflicted with Mr. Williams accounting. Now it was Mr. Williams' turn to become nervous and his remedy was to murder those Negroes who posed a threat to his families way of life. A cunning man, Mr. Williams had Mr. Manning conduct the murders. In an unprecedented decision, Mr. Williams was found guilty of murder based on the testimony of a black man and from 1921 to 1966 this did not happen again in a Georgia Court Room. Mr. Manning was also found guilty but both men were spared the death penalty.

These shocking and horrific crimes were well documented by the author, Gregory A. Freeman. He did a wonderful job of backing up this true tale with documented facts, figures and pictures. It's sad that this story had to be told but it illustrates that the south wasn't used to the idea, some 56 years after slavery- that all men are created equal. It is sad that Mr. Manning felt the need to comply with Mr. Williams wishes to kill his own people for fear of his own life and that of his family. Sadly not a lot of Georgians know about this case and I'm trying to determine if it is because this is just one of many cases and in the telling of family history this was commonplace. Read this book not to anger yourself but to get a greater understanding of the true side of history.

After reading the other reviews of "Lay This Body Down : The 1921 Murders of Eleven Plantation Slaves", I noticed not one mentioned the Notes at the end. I found Freeman's extensive documention one of the most important aspects of the book. Finally, the author of a "true story" backs up his facts with references! In addition to providing sources, many of the Notes introduce relevant information not included in the body of the book.

I highly recommend "Lay This Body Down..." to anyone interested in "true crime", southern history, or just a good read. And don't forget the Notes!

The Eyre Affair is set in a parallel world where time travel is commonplace and literature is held in high regard. Thursday Next is an operative in the Special Operations Network's Literary Division. When Thursday is recruited to help capture high profile criminal, Acheron Hades, she's thrilled at the chance for career advancement. However, Acheron comes up with a devious plot to kidnap literary characters and forever change the novels they come from.

I picked up this book because Jane Eyre is one of my absolute favorite books. I couldn't pass up the chance to see familiar characters in new situations. I was pleasantly surprised that the entire book, not just the Jane Eyre parts, were highly enjoyable. The setting is quirky and interesting and Thursday is a heroine I'd gladly keep reading about. Fforde could certainly get a lot of mileage out of this series before it gets stale. The writing is witty and full of literary jokes. A good portion of the book is purely Sci-Fi so people who can't stand that genre may want to skip it.

From all what you may have already read, this is not a perfect novel. There are shifts in the perspective one can hardly understand, some big logical gaps and a not very credible (read: a bit too perfect)heroine with some serious Bridget Jones thrown in for good measure. The third and fourth ending feel tacked on, one can't help but wondering if Thursday has to accomplish absolutely everything (including, of course, saving the world) in her first adventure.

But what a wonderful, inventive, funny and satisfying read this is. It helps to have read Jane Eyre (I didn't), but it's by no means necessary. I loved the first ending of the book, which gets better and better steering towards the end. It is quite wonderful to check your disbelief at the door and just get lost in the novel. It's very satisfying to get some of the very clever literary allusions (my wife, an english major, pointed out the first one I missed in the very first lines), but it also doesn't matter if you only get a few of them (which I probably did).

In short, it's a book for everyone that enjoys an intelligent, hilarious, inventive time travel romp full of historical and literary allusions. Everyone should.

After twenty years in the film industry, Jasper Fforde started a career as a novelist and thank goodness. He really wanted a change of direction. The Eyre Affair is close to unflimable - or maybe not - and marks a fine addition of a new comic and fantasy writer. Living in an alternate world where literature and art leads to riots and the Crimean war is still going after 125 years, Wales is a people's republic and characters can be kidnapped from novels, out literary detective Thursday Next, must do a battle with evil and dangerous powers.

When you start, you feel that it cannot possibly keep going and the invention on every page must flag at some point, but it doesn't. Not only a good read - but a great book.

Kenji Jasper's "Dark" is meant to be a story of redemption. Opening in Washington, DC, its plot centers around a black man named Thai who kills another man in the heat of the moment. Shocked by what he's done and terrified of the consequences, he flees to North Carolina, where his best friend takes him in. During his week in Charlotte, Thai meets various men and women who help him realize that by not facing what he has done, he is slowly killing himself. Ultimately, Thai returns home to take responsibility for his actions.

Jasper is clearly a talented writer. His protagonist is wonderfully developed, and most of the other major characters are also well-done.

The author's writing is crisp and precise: once or twice it seemed like poetry. The style, however, seemed far too elementary for the story being told. This book is written on a fifth-grade reading level. While that makes for a fast read, it also occasionally detracts from the story's emotional intensity.

Overall, this novel is not perfect, but it is a good, fast read. And it will make you think.

When I read that the book was about a young black male that had killed a man in rage, I thought, "yeah a great read". Wrong! Dark was boring and it lacked the action that it desparately needed.
Thai (the main character) took a week to get his thoughts together, have great sex, find more trouble with another girl, and thats about it for the book.

I bought this book because I want to support young authors starting out. Maybe things will get better with time.

DARK is the story about young Thai Williams and the price he will pay within himself when a reckless act of violence changes everything he knows about the world and his place in it. Sometimes preachy, it still brings a sense of purpose of what we perceive to be the norm in today's society, especially with young african-american males, and what we might do to change it, starting with learning for ourselves the consequences of our actions. The murder Thai commits will send him outside the neighborhood he knows to unfamilar territory in North Carolina, where an eclectic group of strangers will show him that in each man lies good and bad, and how you live will determine your destiny. Change comes when you are ready or not, and for young Thai, his point of change will determine how he will handle not only his run from the law, but what could be the rest of his life. A very introspective piece to be read when you are in that state of deep mind.

Jim Hawkins, a young man living in rural England with his parents, helps run an inn with his parents. His life changes forever when a mysterious dying pirate takes residence at the inn. The shadowy pirate is often on the lookout for strangers who begin to show up in search of the pirate. Rum finally takes its toll on the pirate and he dies, leaving behind a mysterious chest that the strangers are interested in. Upon examination, Jim discovers a treasure map.

With the help of Jim's adult friends, a crew is formed to go in search of the pirate's buried treasure on a remote tropical island. The journey is uneventful until, Jim saves the day when he realizes that their crew consists mainly of pirates who hope to cause mutiny upon reaching the island. Ultimately, a raging battle takes place on the island where Jim and his friends must outwit the pirates who are led by the one-legged Long John Silver.

For a children's book, this book had a lot of inappropriate material - drinking and violence. I also had a tough time with the old-English writing style and the nautical terms. This book was ahead of its time, though, in terms of the adventure it described, but I was hoping for more. Fans of H. Rider Haggard (ala King Solomon's Mines) will enjoy this book but I was sort of happy to be done with it as some parts were engaging and others were muddled.

"Treasure Island" is the classic adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. Set on the high seas amid treasures and pirates, it is the story of a young boy's adventure. "Treasure Island" has been done by everyone from Disney to the Muppets. It's been imitated many times and influenced countless books and movies.

A mysterious pirate shows up at an inn owned by Jim Hawkin's mother. The pirate is killed by a gang of rogues, but Jim finds a treasure map belonging to the pirate. Jim then embarks on a journey to far away island to find the treasure. Of course, nobody can be trusted - especially the cook, Long John Silver. With his peg leg and parrot, Silver is the stereotypical pirate. Once the island is reached, sides are chosen - the mutinous pirates against the ship's crew. Jim goes on a journey within a journey on the island, going from one side to another, as the treasure is hunted for.

Everyone should read this book at some point. It's especially good for young boys, due to the fact that the main character (Jim) is a young boy. It's well crafted, and easy to read. And it's hard to put down once you get going. What else can you ask for?

I never did read this book as I was growing up and have now read it for the first time as an adult. I always thought that this book would not be very good but I was wrong.

I write this review for those students who may hesitate to read Treasure Island. This book is a story of high adventure. In it is the tale of a young boy who comes to possess a treasure map and goes off on a whirlwind adventure filled with sea voyages, pirates, island adventure and treasure. Stevenson wonderfully portrays the characters of young Jim Hawkins, the hero of the book, the fabled Long John Silver, Billy Bones and Ben Gunn. Each adds their own sense of mystery and suspense to the story. The settings of the story from the Admiral Benbow Inn to the Hispaniola, their sailing vessel, to the island itself are very vivid and make you feel as if you are really there. The adventure to and finally on Treasure Island is filled with secret meetings, battle scenes and a quest to find a long since buried fortune in gold. The novel is truly great and is a very entertaining and interesting read.

For those adults who have never read this novel definitely read it and for those who have already read it, read it again it is well worth it. The swashbuckling adventures of Long John Silver and his men, along with Jim Hawkins, are truly timeless. If you have children of age, share the story with them. It is truly a family classic worth sharing with generations to come.

In this book Jasper Becker has done an impressive and exhaustive job on digging up information and interviews, out of a society that has pulled out all the stops to repress all knowledge of China's enormous famine of the early 60's. Chairman Mao, who has been idolized and emulated by many third world countries and disdvantaged peoples as a visionary, is instead revealed in this book as a stubborn, cruel, and apathetic dictator. Mao's so-called "Great Leap Forward" quickly became a failure in its efforts to forcibly collectivize agriculture and increase production. Mao refused to believe that his great plan was causing the starvation of huge numbers of peasants, and suppressed and threatened anyone who tried to reveal the truth. The fact that communist officials down to the local level had been threatened to keep their mouths shut, and that Mao refused to admit failure, proves that these dictators would rather watch tens of millions of people die than admit that their bold plan was a dismal failure. So instead of looking like a laughing stock on the world stage, they allowed these people to die and then used an iron fist to cover up all information about the famine. Ironically, this is from a regime supposedly dedicated to the "people" and it was an eerie repeat of a similar famine inflicted on the Ukraine by Stalin 30 years earlier.

Becker has done a good job of unearthing this long-suppressed information, and adequately debunks past writers and politicians who were misled and duped by the communist propaganda machine. While Becker's statistical approach makes this book repetitive in places (especially the section giving the famine's development and death tolls from various Chinese provinces), overall the book is an impressive piece of scholarship. Also, the new postscript about the recent famine in North Korea, which has resulted from almost the same political failures, offers disturbing proof that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.

It has often been said that, to understand China, you must know of its past. Here is a compelling treatment of a chapter in China's history that is almost a black comedy. Mao's Great Leap Forward is predicated upon such preposterous silliness that we chuckle at its absurdities (eg, the crops will improve with "deep planting" at up to 12 feet; steel can be made by all in back yard smelters, etc...). Yet...the consequences are so awful, that any thought of smiles is quickly erased.

Historians differ, but here was want and famine on a scale unprecedented in the 20th century. Perhaps as many as 30,000,000 died. Another reviewer scoffs at this number and says that it was "only" 10,000,000. Whatever the number, this is still an unthinkable tragedy, and one that happened in our lifetime. Like the Taiping Revolution that claimed as many as 22,000,000 lives (read "God's Chinese Son"), it left an indelible, but largely unknown mark on China - one that shapes the country today as it emerges as the only "other" super power.

Well written and fascinating.

This book tells the fascinating and horrifying story of a Chinese famine caused by the communists. Basically, the communists had "experts" (really party hacks) who thought they knew everything about agricultural such as burying seeds several feet into the ground to produce good growth and planting crops close to each other so they could help each other grow. These techniques failed miserably but no one would admit the failures in the communist chain of command. Glowing reports of record crops were passed along to the point that Mao was wondering what to do with the surplus. Before it was over, millions had died and countless others were reduced to cannibalism.

If anyone ever thought that George Orwell didn't know about Communists and that way of thinking, he/she should read this book. Everything about it rings like an unpublished Orwell novel, but it was all too true for the millions who died. This work should definately be required reading for high school students.

I have wanted to know more about China but most of the books I have tried to read on the subject just put me to sleep. I used to think it is because the subject wasn't interesting to anyone but an international relations major -- but this book changed everything for me. Mr. Becker gives a thorough and engaging account of China in the second half of the 20th century. It is a real eye-opener. China must have great PR agents in the West, because I had NO IDEA the problems this communist country has with education, medical care, and corruption. This book is a MUST READ for everyone who believes that communism "works" in China, and that without it, the country would not be able to feed its 1,000,000,000 people. Very thought provoking.

A must read for those who have to deal with China whether in politics, academic or business. Becker, who has spent more than 15 years in China as a journalist, gives an anatomy of modern China including a brief introduction of Chinese history. It is one of the most comprehensive descriptions of China in minority affairs, society, political system, education, military, rule of law, one-child policy, business, . . . among others.

China is at a crossroad at the beginning of a new millennium. Its State Owned Enterprises, SOE, are not competitive and at the brink of bankruptcy. Unemployment is at record high. Old industrial areas like Manchuria have become a rust belt. And rampant corruption in its bureaucratic system has made the Communist regime a great joke of the 20th century.

Becker collects all the important facts of modern China and details some intricacies that surprise even those who have paid close attention to Chinese affairs.

The epilogue, 'Examining the Oracle Bones,' concludes the book wisely. 'Since almost everything the state says is untrue, and most information is kept secret, there is no real trust or cooperation between its officials and the rest of the population,' Becker writes. 'China's future depends on the extent to which a basis of trust between government and people can be established,' suggested Becker.

The two parties, the Chinese Communist Party and the Koununtang who had governed the Chinese since 1911, are 'peas from the same pod.' Taiwan finally seized the opportunity in last March by electing President Chen Shui-bian who used to be a dissident to building a full fledged democratic system. It provides hope for Chinese to change.

Yu-Tai Chia, President (1993 - 1996), Chinese Democracy Education Foundation

Kudos to Becker for his placement of the Chinese in historical context. The book is worth its salt if for no other part than the 20 page introduction that gives a synopsis of the Chinese state. And this book could have been written by no one other than someone who had observed every day life in China for a period of ten years. Even after all this, he is still good about admitting that the place eludes generalization.

I've just finished living in China and have found that many of the things that he says are correct. For example: He mentions that the cities are among the most prosperous places and that the rich people live there as they always have. The further one goes from the city centers, the more obvious the real picture is.

He makes some very prescient observations about the affinity of the Chinese for tyrants and their love of all-controlling, authoritarian regimes. If the CCP collapsed tomorrow, the citizenry wouldn't know what to do with itself if history is any guide.

Everyone also seems to think that China is going to take over the world in the near future. After reading the details of the book, one wonders: "Is this really consistent with what you would expect from such a situation as he describes?"

One or two things that are missing that were covered in later publications--by different authors: What happens in the case where there is a large peasantry that feels that their taxes are being extracted to support the wealthy? What happens when there is a huge excess of men to women in a particular country? At the beginning of the book, he said that he was not going to offer a book about political ideology. But it would have been nice if he had drawn just a few more parallels between what happened in other places under similar circumstances. (This story has been told many times before; Only the players are different.)

Actually, there are too many good observations to even address within the word limit of the reviews. One other that is too good to resist noting is the Chinese concept of "race," as it was taught many years ago by Sun Yat Sen (Chinese and White are superior and all others are inferior, thus the Chinese race must regenerate itself or risk extinction) that is still very much believed in Taiwan and colors certain notions/ statements that one hears in every day life there as well as in the Mainland.

Lastly, he could have shaved about 75 pages off the book and it would not have been diminished in any way. When dealing with such large amounts of factual information as he put in the book, shorter is always better. In any case, there is very little that I disagree with in this book and most people (especially Sinophiles and other romantics) would do very well to read this book and understand what it demonstrates.

Naively, I expected "A Death in Texas" to be an indictment of a small Texas town that was thrust into the national spotlight as the unfortunate host of a hideous hate crime. Just the opposite, the book is about an event that changed the lives of everyone in Jasper, Texas, not only forcing a community to take a long hard look at itself, but pointing out that in trying times, unlikely heroes emerge. As the media and interest groups descended on Jasper in the summer of 1998, either bent on labeling the town as "racist" or using the tragic murder of James Byrd to hoist their own political agendas, the local sheriff and townspeople worked together to solve the crime, punish the guilty, and ultimately heal each other in the process. As expected, it will take years for Jasper to overcome this terrible tragedy, but one gets the hopeful feeling that Jasperites will somehow find a way to do it. Dina Temple-Raston has not only written a page-turner, but an important expose' on a town in crisis.

Dina Temple-Raston has written a real page-turner. I could barely put this book down. It is well written and a succinct portrait of the Deep East Texas woods and life in a small East Texas city. That the town of Jasper was so highlighted by the acts of "three no 'count white boys and one no 'count ..... is tragic. Those who had no stake in the town, except for personel profit, (read the author), took from the town the last modicum of dignity. The Klan, the Panthers, Jesse Jackson, Quannel X, and especially the media...the whole bunch of them simply left Jasper lying in the dust, as bloody and broken as James Byrd, Jr.

Let me be frank. I have never heard of the town Jasper in Texas, or for that matter about the brutal racial murder that shook that town on June 7, 1998. The murder described is so shocking, so brutal that it is difficult for me to imagine it to be a true incident.

James Byrd Jr., an unassuming middle'aged black man is found murdered. The murderers had apparently chained him to the bumper of a car & dragged him for more than three miles along a rough country road. Hours later the victim's body is found in pieces with the flesh shorn off & the organs dismembered. The predominantly white Jasper community is shocked ' a town that believed racism was a thing of past ' a town that took pride in its peaceful enlightened outlook was suddenly in the heat of racial prejudices & disharmony. Evidence leads to three white men, Bill King, Shawn Berry & Russell Brewer. The three are charged with the murder.

From the initial investigation reports to the ultimate trial, A Death in Texas takes the reader through the life in the Jasper Community following this dastardly incident. Through the eyes of Sheriff Billy Rowles, author Dina Temple'Raston paints a picture of a whole community coming to accept the truth ' such as it is. Billy Rowles emerges as the true hero in this crisis. He kept in check the racial tension, & the growing tension between the Ku Klux Klan members & the Black Panthers in the aftermath of this heinous murder. The author also forcefully brings out the gritty determination of District Attorney Guy James Gray & the fight unto the last stand taken by defense attorney Joe Tonahill in describing the highly publicized trial.

Dina Temple'Raston is a journalist & this is her first book based on her experience in covering the Byrd murder trial. The author's fictionalistic narration is effective in bringing home the true, harrowing & brutal effect the murder had on a whole town. The author's authoritative & detailed account without mincing words is impressive & praiseworthy.

The epilogue mentions that two of the accused are awaiting an execution date ' & whatever be arguments for or against the death penalty ' this is one of the 'rarest among the rare cases' (the words used by famed Supreme Court Judge of India, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer while confirming a death sentence in a murder trial) that truly deserves the death sentence.

To say that I enjoyed the book would not be correct, it is disturbing, enjoyably disturbing!