RaveLibrary JournalSassoon relays in stunning detail the rise of the Sassoons ... Despite being a distant relative to his titular subject, Sassoon maintains a historian’s impartiality ... A meticulously detailed account of the rise and fall of a mercantile dynasty that will appeal to casual history buffs and academics alike.
Ben Westhoff
MixedLibrary JournalEmploying his journalistic skills and connections to solve the crime, the author exposes the failures of the justice system when it comes to young Black men. The narrative struggles at times with Westoff’s inability to decenter himself from Cleveland’s lived experience ... A heartfelt account of a life cut short, and the jarring inequities that contributed to the tragedy.
John Markoff
PositiveLibrary JournalMarkoff gives readers a well-researched account of Brand’s life ... Brand’s detractors will not find much to grab on to in Markoff’s mostly laudatory biography, and readers might wish it was a more critical take ... The biography makes no apology for its approach, as there is plenty of good to find in Brand’s long life; it’s an insightful account of the Zelig-like figure ... A laudatory biography of Brand that admirers, the unfamiliar, and even some detractors will find insightful.
John Glatt
PositiveLibrary JournalGlatt is a balanced narrator of this story; though it would be easy to dismiss Gilbert as a privileged man-child protected by wealth and connections, the author also examines how complicated mental illness diagnoses can be, even for people with access to doctors and treatments ... A tragic character study at the intersection of wealth, privilege, and mental illness, told with empathy for Gilbert’s victims.
Sarah Berman
RaveLibrary JournalNXIVM has been covered extensively, but Berman sets her work apart with a deep dive into the history and growth of the organization and an empathetic look at the psychology of the victims. Given the wide interest in this story, this is a strong addition to true crime shelves.
Elon Green
RaveLibrary Journal... the author treats the victims, gay men murdered in the early 1990s, who were picked up at gay bars in New York City, with respect, describing how they shared an identity that left them vulnerable not only to a sadistic criminal but also to indifference and sometimes open hostility from those charged with solving their murders. These crimes have been covered before, but Green sets his work apart by offering nuanced portraits of the victims and exploring how they navigated lives that led them to the bars that might have seemed like safe spaces but turned out to be anything but ... Reflecting both its author’s compassion and journalistic chops, this gripping narrative also focuses on forensic innovation and jurisdictional intrigue ... A stellar tale of justice eluded, to add to the growing queer true crime genre justice.
Ben Machell
PositiveLibrary JournalMachell intersperses his gripping account with Jackley’s journal entries and manifestos, which offer prescient predictions about social and economic issues ... Machell is sympathetic, detailing his subject’s difficult childhood—raised by a mother with schizophrenia and a domineering father, Jackley struggled to make friends, and his Asperger’s syndrome went undiagnosed for years. However, the author stresses that neither these challenges nor Jackley’s noble motivations excuse his violence ... With nuance and sensitivity, Machell has profiled a young man who, like a canary in a coal mine, offered warnings about impending financial, political, and ecological reckonings.
Michael Cannell
PositiveLibrary JournalCannell expertly interweaves stories of Reles and other gangsters with those of the police, prosecutors, and even Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, whose campaign promises included dismantling Murder, Inc. and prosecuting Reles and company. Reles was responsible for the shockingly cruel deaths of upward of 50 people, described in vivid detail by Cannell. Though well researched, the book suffers at times from an overuse of adjectives, perhaps mimicking the pulp true crime fashionable in the era of Murder, Inc. While it is Italian American gangsters who are most remembered today, Cannell reminds readers of an era when many other first-generation immigrants of different ethnic backgrounds found success in the underworld. His narrative serves as a who’s who of prewar Jewish assassins, although the work leans more toward titillation than social anthropology. Cannell also examines the mystery of Reles’s death, which would have long-term consequences for the district attorney who convinced Reles to turn state’s witness ... Will resonate with fans of the true crime genre, and mob and crime history.
Doug J. Swanson
RaveLibrary JournalSwanson is adept at holding readers’ interest in a sweeping narrative, all the while allowing a nuanced understanding of these myths. The book loses some momentum in the final chapters in telling 20th-century history; by then the myths were ingrained in public imagination ... In an era in which some desire a return to a perceived greatness, books like this remind us greatness is often reliant on the selective memory of storytellers.
Mark Bowden
RaveThe Library JournalThough Bowden...notes that crime stories serve to titillate, he proves that the genre is more than voyeuristic thrills. The six pieces found here, taken from over the course of the author’s career as a crime reporter, are uncomfortably thrilling—as good crime writing should be—but they contain insights into our often sexist and racist society, the criminal justice system, and who gets the privilege of having their stories told and believed ... This true crime master expands the limits of the genre, digging to find answers and revealing that even the most horrific crimes are often linked to a larger story about America.
Lizabeth Cohen
RaveLibrary JournalCohen doesn’t necessarily defend urban renewal, instead using Logue’s story to provide insight behind the policies ... One of America’s most controversial policies as seen through the career of one of its most outspoken advocates; an essential read.
William D. Cohan
RaveLibrary JournalCohan is adept at relating how a combination of family background and attending one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country helped shape the lives of these four men ... Cohan is a masterful biographer, even if the occasional slip into armchair cultural anthropologist misses the mark. His detailed research spans newspaper accounts and school records to weave a full narrative of privilege and tragedy.
