5 comments about Conversations with the Capeman: The Untold Story of Salvador Agron.

1. Conversations with the Capeman, the story on which the musical Westside Story is loosely based, blew me away. I literally read this 500+ page book in two days. I almost could not sleep for want of finishing it on the first day.
   
   The life of Salvador Agron provides a window into humanity that society tends to overlook when confronted with a crime in light of the death penalty. Mr. Agron's life can be viewed as social commentary that makes this a very important look at our penal system but more importantly it renders him human.....not an evil animal. The loyalty that Salvador garnered from people he didn't even know was overwelming. This is the first book that ever brought me to tears to the point that I could barely see the words on the page while reading the last two chapters.
   
   I subsequently bought Paul Simon's Songs from the Capeman and was pretty impressed by the way that he captures Salvadors life in music.



2. This insightful, sensitively written book which brings to light Salvador Agron's life that was imprinted by race, sexual abuse and the condemnation of society gave me not only a new awareness of the criminal justice system, but of human redemption as well. Reading Conversations with the Capeman was a powerful eye-opening experience.



3. Each page of this beautifully written book brings raw emotion to the surface. Richard Jacoby paints a vivid picture of the poverty stricken, abusive childhood that surer than any court sentenced Salvador Agron to a life of alienation and despair. Yet despite being the youngest person ever sent to New York State's electric chair, Agron possessed a spark of human spirit that would not die. It is Jacoby's great accomplishment that he lets Agron's story speak for itself as he takes us through the dark alleys of Puerto Rico, the doo-wop drenched streets of New York and the cold corridors of state prisons where despair is plentiful, yet hope lives. If you want to know why we should treat our kids better and why giving people in trouble a second chance is NOT some mushy-headed idea, read this extremely engaging book.



4. Conversations with the Capeman is an absolutely stunning, beautifully written book about the life of convicted murderer Salvador Agron. Richard Jacoby weaves a brilliant and sensitive memoir of his real-life interviews and relationship with Agron. Jacoby paints a compelling, unbiased portrait of a tragic life; from Agron's youth as a member of a violent New York street gang to his conviction for a murder that he may not have committed, to life beyond prison. This impossible to put down book reads as if one is watching a motion picture. It involves all the elements of a modern-day epic; heartbreak, mystery, deception, love, friendship, redemption, and ultimate tragedy. This novel, of all the books I have read, has had the biggest impact on me...Simply amazing.



5. I picked up the book a little skeptically, even though I admire the author, because I was afraid it might glorify a murderer. Richard Jacoby has a simpler goal. He humanizes the Capeman and makes him understandable.
   
   The Capeman was a 16 year old involved in a gangfight in which he stabbed two other teenagers and they died. Sentenced to death, Governor Rockerfeller commuted the sentence under heavy pressure.
   
   Meantime, Richard Jacoby was doing a thesis about whether people on death row had life changing experiences. He got in touch with the Capeman, letters were exchanged, then they met in person and a deep friendship started. The author also got to know the Capeman's family very well. The original goal was for the Capeman to write his life story, but as it becomes clear, after he's paroled that he won't really do it, Jaocby uses all of his notes to put the story together.
   
   Meantime, Paul Simon wrote a musical based on parts of the Capeman's life. It's a story of redemption, but to Richard, that's only part of the story. He uses this book to tell the whole story, not just about the Capeman's life, but about our prison system and about our insane asylums. He's very careful to let the fact's speak for themselves.
   
   The biggest surprise is how hard the book is to put down. You get inside the head of the Capeman and his relatives and his story becomes an American story and yet, still a very individualized story. The book can perhaps best be summed up by Jacoby's encounter with a racist cop, where, referring to the Capeman, he tells the cop "Yeah, but he's still a human being" At it's most basic, that's what the book is about. Without glossing over his crimes, Jacoby shows us the Capeman as a human being. It's a moving, well balanced portrait that is completely compelling reading. Highly Recommended.

5 comments about Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History.

1. I live in urban Minneapolis, Minnesota so I watched the Cunanen case unfold from the beginning. I am also a fan of Maureen Oarth. Her meticulous research in Vanity Fair articles carried over into this book. I was most concerned with the Minnesota aspect of the case and her work on it seemed excellent. I was less familiar with the later outstate aspects of the case by Oarth's book seems to make sense.

   Reactions of some in the gay community, who seemed to judge the book by a "political agenda" seemed to mirror the response to Randy Shilts classic book on the AIDS epidemic "And the Band Played On". Many of the worst critics of Shilts classic book were from the gay community.

   As they say, those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it. Law enforcement and the gay community cooperation on the Cunnanen case went from excellent to horrible. In Vulgar Favors Oarth describes the extremes, and everything in the middle, in great detail. It provides a foundation on how this "odd couple" can work together better in the future.

   I recall reading somewhere that there were several gays on the books editing and publishing team and they didn't have any problem with the book and it's contents.

   I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Cunanen case who has an open mind. Gays are like everyone else, you have to take the good with the bad. Early on the Minneapolis newspaper wouldn't even use the word "gay" to describe Andrew Cunanen even though they listed several of his lovers with obviously male names (like duhh!). The local gay press ironically, tended to be supportive of Vulgar Favors and the Vanity Fair coverage because it got coverage and awareness for local gay community issues like substance abuse and cooperation with police.

   Again I highly recommend this book.




2. Sheesh! Andrew's story is fairly absorbing as far as those of serial killers go, and Orth has collected an impressive mountain of facts about it. However, this book's shortcomings far outweigh any of its strong points:
   
   1. The text is fairly clogged with spelling errors and illiteracies of every kind. I mean, I'M embarrassed to read them, and I had nothing to do with the book!
   
   2. Why couldn't we have pictures? Because Orth didn't want to stoop to sensationalism? Then how to explain the completely inaccurate and misleading title? At no point is it ever alleged that Cunanan performed "vulgar favors" for Versace, hence I must conclude that that title was chosen only for the basest of reasons.
   
   3. There was no reason the book needed to be this long; it could have been much shorter and still effective. The author seemed unable to weed out uninteresting aspects of her story, instead dumping EVERY damn fact in her possession on us (e.g., do we really need two entire chapters on the history of the FBI's fliers?!?)
   
   4. Orth just can't seem to make the characters come alive, although she evidently suffered from no lack of rich material.
   
   5. Her prose style is mediocre and over-stylized at the same time.
   
   6. I suppose this is inevitable when writing the life of a serial killer, but here I must accuse Orth of "playing the ending" too much. What I mean is that she goes back into his life in high school (and before) reading all these sinister meanings into the most innocuous teenageisms (what high-school boy, for example, isn't a barefaced liar?). As if he'd spent his entire life preparing to go berserk and kill Versace. Brother! Only somebody with a ludicrous and gratingly shallow understanding of human nature would have slanted her facts thus.
   
   Avoid this one: A weak and forgettable effort.



3. Nine years after the crimes, this book's flaws are all the more apparent: overwritten and in desperate need of an editor's hand. The reader has to wait more than 300 pages to get to Gianni Versace. The buildup, many extraneous details about four previous murders of obscure individuals by Andrew Cunanan, while interesting in its way, is not why anyone would want to read this work. This reporter never met a detail she didn't decide to incorporate into her writing. There are reams of tedious detail about police investigations, with many gratuitous quotes by cops who are unimportant to the theme. No one really cares about the non-celebrities who preceded Versace in death at the hands of this particular psychopath.



4. It was well written for the most part, but I detected a lot of homophobia between the lines. Orth comes off as judgmental and seems to blame the victims....they deserved to be murdered because they were gay and were guilty of risky behavior (Note to Mrs. Russert: straight folks are promiscuous and do drugs, too).
   
   Orth wrote a lot of things about the victims that I don't think belonged in the book - who cares whether or not Gianni Versace had or didn't have AIDS?
   
   Andrew Cunnan's sexual orientation had nothing to do with his being a serial killer. This individual was the product of psychotic parents (SOME people should NOT reproduce) who made Andrew what he was: an overindulged, spoiled, narcissistic sociopath with an out of control ego and a huge sense of entitlement.
   
   As I said, good book for the most part but maybe the story should have been told by someone less prejudiced.
   
   And, by the way, I am a heterosexual woman.



5. Orth is the wife of Tim Russert. This is her first book, and it is very interesting. She gives all the details of the murders of Trail, Madison, Miglin, Reese, and Versace. What she describes is the unknown lifestyle of the kept men. Cunanan lived a life of lies. He was popular mainly because he picked up the tab. He dealt drugs, and when he life was collasping around him, he decided to kill his friends and associates. Whether he actually ever knew Miglin and Versace before their murders, Orth goes deeply into the lifestyles of all those involved in this story. I am normally not disposed to crime stories, but Orth does a great job of showing the national manhunt for Andrew Cunanan. The only bad thing is that there were no pictures in this detailed book.
   
   This is a great and detailed read about the national manhunt for Andrew Cunanan. The author did the legwork in uncovering everything we need to know about the characters. She assumes much, but the level of detail leads you to these assumptions about Versace and Miglin.

1 comments about The Desperate Ones: Forgotten Canadian Outlaws.

1. The Desperate Ones by Edward Butts is truly a fascinating book, well-written with an exceptional account of Canadian history at its best. In this new work, Canadian outlaws are researched to an insight never before reached. This ground-breaking insight is a refreshing look at the infamous criminals across the U.S. borders.
   This is recommended reading, bringing new light to many forgotten criminals including America's largest public enemy John Dillinger. The Desperate Ones brings forth a legendary, yet blazing ride through America's golden age of bank robbers. A must to read! Review by 7ony Stewart, author of Dillinger, The Hidden Truth

2 comments about Mother Love, Deadly Love: The Susan Smith Murders.

1. I start reading this book and couldn't stop thinking about why Susan Smith killed her own children. I have dreams all night and keep thinking about the incident. She was very cruel !! I cannot imagine how the 2 kids feel when they are trapped in the car drowned into the lake !! I cannot imagine how much they suffered !! The book contents is o.k. - but if it contains more psychological factors from Susan Smith, that will be more interesting.



2. This is a well-written book about an unbalanced woman who cold-bloodedly drowned her two babies so she could have the rich man she wanted. Never mind she still had a husband, and both were having affairs. These precious children were sent into a dark, cold lonely lake on a chilly October night ten years ago this month. After letting her car go down the boat ramp with her babies strapped inside, she rushed to the nearest house screaming that her car had been carjacked with her children in it, by a black man. This was Union, South Carolina, a small mill town where relations between blacks and whites were almost certainly strained. This became a very infamous case, and she let the whole world believe her lies for nearly ten days before she finally broke down and confessed to the sheriff, saying, "My babies are NOT okay!" John D. Long lake was dragged and divers found the car with a little hand pressed against the window. The bodies were so bloated and waterlogged that they were almost unrecognizable as human. This is a heartwrenching story. But the monster was given life, not what she deserved, which was the death penalty.If Michael and Alexander Smith had not been murdered by their mother they would now be 13 and 11 years old, respectively. Another mother of two sons.

No comments about Scapegoats of the Empire.

3 comments about A Father's Rage (St. Martin's True Crime Library).

1. As a resident of the Lewiston/Clarkston valley, I find Don Davis' book, A Father's Rage, to be absolutely enraging! OF course, I do not condone the acts of Ken Arrasmith, but the defense was right in asking, "What would you do in the same situation?" And as far as Cynthia staying with the murdered couple, think about the fact that she was almost constantly high on methamphetamines and being sexually, physically, and emotionally abused. Anyone who has been abused also will sympathize with the young, confused, and drugged girl. I can say that I would also take steps to make sure that my daughter was safe, and that anyone who abused or attempted to would pay the price... especially if the police were shelving the investigation! Read this book, and understand that if you are not a resident, you will not fully understand Ken Arrasmith's actions. Please contact me if you would like to know more about living in this area and what is really going on here!



2. "A Father's Rage", by Don Davis is a good try at an even handed telling of an explosive true tale of child abuse, dysfunctional families, drug abuse, and explosive violence. While the defense paints the father's murder of the Binghams as justified vengeance, the prosecution calls it cold blooded murder, pure and simple, with some speed induced paranoia as an additional element. Pre-trial publicity is widespread and the controversy is heated. The author covers the events in a detailed and conscientious manner, and the trial is wonderful true-life drama. All in all, a very adequate telling of a true story of our time.



3. Davis doesn't pretend that Ron and Luella Bingham were innocent. He goes to great lengths to describe in graphic and riveting detail their multitude of crimes against vulnerable young women and girls, including their eleven-year-old niece. One of those crimes landed Ron a (too short) term in prison. Very little of this information was allowed to be heard at the trial of Ken Arrasmith, who killed them after learning they'd sexually assaulted and fed drugs to his fifteen-year-old daughter. The depiction of said trial is where Davis's fairness comes to a halt. Sure, there were serious problems with Arrasmith's background and testimony, but I'm still surprised that Davis was even able to write what he must have considered a balanced account of the trial knowing how many lives the Binghams ruined. This couple were monsters out of every parent's worst nightmare, yet Davis can't relate to the outrage of Arrasmith's supporters, refers to audiences at the talk shows on which Cynthia Arrasmith appeared "idiotic," and points out that the judge, who was obviously biased in favor of the prosecution, made the right decisions. The book even includes photos of Luella with her mother and Ron surrounded by rabbits he bred. It's as if the author or his publisher wanted to see which way the wind was blowing during the trial, and it turned out that the prosecution seemed to have the upper hand, so that side ended up with more of Davis's sympathy. Sorry, they didn't have mine.

5 comments about Secrets Never Lie: The Death of Sara Tokars--A Southern Tragedy of Money, Murder, and Innocence Betrayed.

1. I couldn't put it down.

   I had a hard time deciding who I disliked more...Fred Tokars (who looks like a stork) or his arrogantly sexist attorney, Jerry Froelich (he never married? Wonder WHY!).

   Also, I was SO sick and tired of excuses being made for the gun man, crack addict Curtis Rower....poverty, ad nauseam. (Addiction is a choice and he chose to do drugs! )

   Where are these defense attorneys' consciences? I truly believe that some of them would defend Hitler if he could come up with the retainer .

   I felt sorry for Sara, but she jumped into a second marriage WAY too fast. There had to be SOME way she could have left abusive, controlling Fred Tokars. There had to be some divorce attorneys around who didn't want $2,500 up front and charge $175 per hour. Why didn't she ask her family for the money?

   And Sara's family....the Ambruskos all need counseling desperately. They have let Fred Tokars win because they have allowed him to destroy their lives as well as those of Sara's sons, Rickey and Mike.

   NO woman SHOULD stay in that kind of abusive relationship. There are too many other places to go in this day and age...too many resources.




2. There is a certain type of true crime book that spends a great deal of space making the victim look perfect so the villain looks even blacker. I think this is a ploy that shortchanges the victim and the readers. The author spends so much time telling us how perfect the victim was that she seems more a plaster csst than a real woman who suffered and died.

   There was potentially a very powerful story there: the struggle of the family's quest for vengeance (sort of an Old Testament eye for an eye thing) against the defense team who was trying to save the accused from the death penalty with equal passion. Of course the author spends too much time beatifying one side and demonizing the other to write a really good book. I found myself feeling somewhat queasy about some of the actions on both sides. And as someone else complained, there's no explantion as to how these people arrived at the place that led to the tragedy.

   Finally, I would like someone to tell me that the title means. Secrets don't lie and they don't tell the truth. They just are-- and sometimes when they are revealed they cause problems for someone.




3. I went to junior high school with Fred Tokars and to senior high school with Sara Ambrusko in Amherst, NY. I knew Fred slightly better however it was only an occasional conversation usually about music. He hung out with a different crowd of friends than I. I do however, remember him as a bit arrogant and somewhat of a "know it all" who would talk to you when he needed information about something. At other times he could walk right by you like he didn't know you. So, the personality traits were already in motion. Sara, on the other hand, was very kind and had a very sweet personality. Somehow I could not really see them together. I guess that Fred did a good job of "putting on a different face" when they dated. After I read about what had happened I was in shock. However, when I started to think about it and especially after I read the book, I could definately see how it happened. I did not know Fred's mother Phyllis but get the impression that she felt her son could do no wrong and maybe that was the start of Fred's problems. It is so hard to understand how someone could be so cold hearted and such a manipulator. I don't know what caused the rift between he and his older sister. I found the book to be well written however it did drag on in some places. It was hard to keep up with the cast of characters and I found myself always looking back to see who was who. I hope that the boys are doing well and that one of Sara's sisters has them. I heard that Sara's father passed away a couple of years ago and I always felt so badly for what the Ambrusko family was put through. I believe that life in prison for Fred is much harder for him to take than the death penalty would have been. I am sure he is still convinced in his mind that he did nothing wrong. It is a very sad story.



4. I agree with one of the reviewers who thought that the author spent a lot of time making the victim look perfect. I kept wondering why Sara Tokars didn't leave her husband especially since she came from a family with money. I know people who grew up in Amherst, NY and it's a very affluent suburb. Yes, Fred was not a nice person and a terrible husband but Sara could have left him if not for her sake then at least for her sons. Also, the copy editing in this book was very sloppy. I found errors in dates such as Monday, March 7, 1993 instead of Monday, March 7, 1994. Did anyone bother to look at a calendar?



5. Sure, it happened in the South, but both of the Tokars
   were Yankee transplants from NY State. There was
   nothing Southern about either of them.
   
   I used to see Fred Tokars' sleazy commercials on
   local TV during the '80s. I knew the guy was
   a crook then.

5 comments about Betrayal In Blood.

1. As a public service I will begin this review by saying DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR TIME ON THIS BOOK. I really wanted to read and like it, but I started skimming by page 146. BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, written by Michael Benson, is the story of the murder of a woman by her husband and her half-brother. It embodies all of the characteristics which define the worst of true crime writing. The writing is superficial, sloppy, and slapdash. Benson does NO research involving the making of the personalities, the psyche, of any of the main characters, which, in addition to the quality of the writing, is in my opinion the single most important factor in the writing of interesting and intelligent true crime. The story is simply a recitation of the "facts" of the case, which are in themselves dubious given the extensive use of pseudonyms in the book. And there is almost a record-setting use of irrelevant filler, some of which which, even for the often suspect writing of this genre, reaches heretofore unattained heights of absurdity.
   
   The writing is amazingly repetitive. We are told early on that the murdering husband, Kevin Bryant, is very small, 5' 2". We are in fact told this at least four times. Did you know that murder victim Tabatha (the spelling of which is discussed numbingly and at length) Bryant was for the most part raised by her grandmother, Essie Bassett? I did, because this same fact is trotted out innumerable times. Early in the book Benson reports this information and it is important and necessary at that juncture. It is NOT necessary to continually repeat it. For example, on page 131 we are told that "Essie Bassett had raised (Tabatha) from the time she was a baby..." This is vital information for those who begin reading this book on page 131. It is not vital for those who learned it on page 36. Nor is it for those who learned on page 118 that "Lorraine, sister of Leroy Bassett, Tabatha's father, told Amy how her mother, Essie, raised Tabatha. Amy learned that Essie Bassett had raised Tabatha and her older sister, Samantha, in the small town of Greenwood." These two sentences reveal Benson's mastery of combining repetition, irrelevance, and filler. In addition to having already told ad nauseum about how and where Tabatha was raised, the first sentence and the second sentence provide almost identical information. One could and should have been omitted, particularly since neither provides information of any value. Why we need to know how Amy, a newspaper reporter, learned these facts, or even that she learned them at all, is unclear to me.....
   Except that Benson's use of filler is possibly record setting. The fact that Tabatha and her sister were named for the witches on the TV show BEWITCHED may be marginally interesting. However Benson then, astoundingly, burns almost the next two pages summarizing the premise of the show and reporting tidbits of information about it. This includes TWO paragraphs regarding the controversy surrounding the spelling of the name of the character Tabatha. I'd explain this further, but do not wish to spoil the sure delight you will experience if you decide to read this passage yourself. Check out pages 32-34.
   Another example of Benson's boring writing can be found in his 3 page summary of the history of the Community Church of Christ. As is typical of his technique, he provides a fact that is important to the story, and then departs on a lengthy and irrelevant tangent. Did you know that as of January 1, 2001, the church's name was changed in Kansas City, Mo, and that the final vote on the matter was 1,979 to 561? I wouldn't have either had I not read BETRAYAL IN BLOOD.
   My final example (though certainly not the final example available) concerns the minister who presided at Tabby's funeral. Thanks to Benson we learn about his educational background, career history, professional and advocational interests, and family composition. Other than leading the service, he plays no role in this story.
   Benson clearly had a mandated number of pages to complete in the writing of this book, my guess would be 400 paperback pages. I am happy to report that he he successfully completes his assignment, due in no small part to devices such as including printing - verbatim - of the Miranda Rights statement signed by a suspect. This covers one page.
   At the end of the book, we are regaled with two pages concerning the next case taken by one of the Bryant case's trial attorneys. This info. defines the word filler and covers two pages. Included in these two pages is a device which clearly enables Benson to reach his 400 page goal. This book is formatted so there is a new chapter every 3 or 4 pages. Every new chapter begins with a chapter number and a title. (Yes, he actually titles them.) Every time this is done, it takes up half a page.
   
   There ARE positives though and in fairness I believe I should mention them. The requisite center photos, though unremarkable, did not fall out while I was reading. And, I have a really comfortable recliner in which I was comfortably settled while attempting to read this trash.
   
   BETRAYAL IN BLOOD is a poster boy for sloppy and cynically unconcerned true crime writing. The book's cover notes that Michael Benson has written 38(!) books. It does not note how many were self-published.



2. This is a sad and fascinating story. Everyone knows disfunctional families and one often wonders how bad things can get. Well, this case shows how bad things can get. This book is a story of what happens when a person in an unhappy marriage goes beyond thinking bad thoughts to acting on his thoughts. If you like true crime and family drama, this book is for you.



3. This is a great book, although a very sad and disturbing story. Michael Benson is one of the best true crime authors today. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in true crime dramas.



4. Fantastic detail, a good read, and a story line that will haunt you forever. It does not get much better than this.



5. I picked this book up one night and could not put it down until I was finished. Credit to the genre.

No comments about Along the Rails: A Juror's Journey.

5 comments about The Search for Grace: The True Story of Murder & Reincarnation.

1. This was a compelling read! In "The Search for Grace," Dr. Bruce Goldberg presents an absolutely convincing case for the transmigration of the soul. Documentation is superb and, at the same time, very haunting! Grace's Birth Certificate, her Death Certificate, archived contemporary newspaper articles, and precise details that only the true Grace Doze could have known add powerful credibility to the concept of reincarnation.

   What we see right now in our lives may be just a shallow perception where, in actuality, this life may be but a small piece on a string of our "past lives" and our "future lives." How does this work? Dr. Golberg suggests that our souls may be connected to us through mechanisms available via concepts explained in quantum physics. Indeed, physicists have recently been saying that in quantum physics there may be what are known as parallel universes. The idea that we exist in more ways than one is not far-fetched. Could this be where science and metaphysics meet?




2. As soon as I started reading this book, I could not put it down. Is Grace's spirit really reincarnated over thousands of years? Judge for yourself!



3. The book is well-written and I quite enjoyed it -- I read it in two days so it is also easy reading. However, there was one area I think the author needed to explain a little better because I did not understand it. How can a person live two lives in the same time period as this person reveals under hypnosis? He had an explanation that involved quantum physics but I'm much afraid that his explanation went zooming over my head like a fighter jet bound for Afghanistan.



4. I am a direct relation to Grace Loveless Doze and I was
   offended by the book, as was many members of our family
   including her son, Clifford who is now 80 years old.
   This book portrays Grace out to be a fluzy and she was not.
   Just an unhappily married woman.
   This book has brought disgrace to our family and a lot of
   heartache to Grace's son.
   Grace was a lovely person and well liked by the Doze family.
   Her mother, husband, son and relatives loved her and were
   horrified by her murder which is still unsolved today.
   Our family feels Dr. Goldberg is profitting money off of our
   family's tragedy.



5. This is another one of those books that I couldn't put down - in fact I read all of the nearly 300 pages in a couple of days - a testament to just how interesting this story is.
   
   "The Search for Grace" is about a series of lives lived by a woman currently named Ivy - and outlines a continuation of a love triangle that has lasted over many, many lifetimes.
   
   Past-life regression allowed Ivy to see this cycle in the varied ways that it was played out over the centuries, and enabled her to recognize two men who were in her life at the time of the regression. One was a man she had an on-again, off-again relationship with, who was abusive - he showed up in quite a few of her lives, always hurting or killing her. The other was man she dated who is really nice to her - he also showed up in many of her lives, always being a caring & supportive person.
   
   Will she be able to use this information to break this cycle once and for all?
   
   The author includes actual transcripts from Ivy's past-life regressions (which I found fascinating), as well as appendices that describe in more detail how & why regression/hynotherapy works.
   
   Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book, and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in past-life regression, as well as those involved in the field of psychology - it has much to offer.