No comments about A Cold Blooded Business: Love, Adultery, and Murder in a Small Kansas Town.

5 comments about Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murders.

1. This book is a well written, even wryly humorous at times, account of some of history's notorious cannibal killers. It describes all one would want to know about the individuals portrayed, and it ends with some summary information about what is known or theorized about cannibal killers as a species, so to speak. I recommend it to anyone with the stomach to inquire into this disturbing stuff, who is interested in an interesting and very readable overview of the subject.



2. When I bought this book, I was expecting to be the stories of various cannibal killers throughout history. Indeed the book does cover, in pretty good detail, about 5 or 6 cannibal killers. However, the book also spends several chapters talking about the psychology behind cannibal and serial killers.

   The various stories of the killers were chilling and a must read. The psychological portion of the book is a little "dry" to read, but explains a lot about cannibal and serial killers.




3. I FOUND THIS BOOK SO HARD TO PUT DOWN ONCE I STARTED READING. IT SCARED ME TOTALLY TO THE POINT THAT I FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO SLEEP. IF YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK WHICH I HOPE YOU DO LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON AT NIGHT. THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK WAS WELL STUDIED, THE AUTHOR KNEW JUST HOW TO PUT IT ALTOGETHER TO WHERE IT WOULD MAKE YOU KRINDGE AND WANT FOR MORE. I DID, THE AUTHOR GOT INTO THE MINDS OF ALL THESE KILLERS AND LET YOU IN AS WELL. GREAT READING. SO HARD TO PHANTHOM THAT THIS REALLY HAPPENS IN LIFE SAD.



4. In an Aristotelian context, this book is aesthetic and epistemologically sound. I liked this book because I like to eat human flesh, but isn't that so SoKratiK of me? The ontological argument prepared me, in a way, for this book, and yet, insufficiently, somehow. If you think about this, you will see that I am right.



5. Ya, that pretty much sums it up, But it was such a great book. I could not put it down, from start to finish i was hooked. I think i freaked out my parents thought but oh well, it was an extrodinary book, written in a way that almost made it seem like a fiction novel, but it was all true, gives me chills just thinking about it.

2 comments about The False Prophet: Conspiracy, Extortion and Murder in the Name of God (Berkley True Crime).

1. Taylor Helzer was a devout Mormon who lost his moral compass after diving into the teachings of a "self-help" program and heavy drug use. Charismatic since a child, he managed to manipulate his brother and a lonely woman into sharing his belief that he was a prophet who would save the world from the Apocalypse. His plan was to kidnap the top leaders of the church and force them to write letters to Mormons declaring him the new leader.
   
   Author and journalist Claire Booth gives an excellent narrative of the shocking events of the summer of 2000, when the Helzer gang brutally murdered five innocent Bay Area residents -- including the daughter of blues musician Elvin Bishop -- in an effort to extort money he hoped would finance his plan.
   
   Booth gives us insight into the real nature and history of all the people involved -- the victims, their families, law enforcement, the killers -- and shows us how Helzer transformed into the false prophet.



2. This extensively-researched true crime story reads like a novel. The players come alive to a disturbing extent. I hope Ms. Booth continues with her crime writing efforts.

5 comments about Without Remorse: The Story of The Woman Who Kept The Los Angeles' Serial Killers Alive.

1. This is not your typical true crime story--this is the story of a normal, small town girl thrown into the wolves' den that was the Los Angeles Mens' County Jail back in the 80s! Names that can still evoke nightmares--Ken Bianchi, Doug Clark, William Bonin--were the budding psychologist's daily visitors. Vonda's job was to keep them alive, and theirs were the faces that greeted her each day--for coffee and cookies--and the chilling retellings of their crimes. Dr. Pelto seemlessly weaves the stories of these monsters with tales from her own life as she struggles to balance some semblance of normallcy with the terrors of her day job. Fasten your seat belts--this is a wild read!



2. This book held my interest from beginning to end. I felt like I was walking the halls at the jail with Dr. Pelto, seeing the sights, smelling the odors, hearing the clanking of the doors. I felt her discomfort when she met with the various serial killers and listened to their detailed descriptions of their crimes. I couldn't have done the job she did!



3. powerful, riveting. real page turner. this incredable woman able to survive horrors most of can not even imagine. she is a survivor. waiting for the movie. loved it.



4. Brilliant... It really grabbed me. I loved it. It just kept me reading, which is astounding, because I haven't been through a novel or anything other than a magazine for about 10 years. I highly recommend this book, just be prepared for some outstandingly graphic stories. It will create very visible pictures in your mind.



5. Dr. Pelto's book is a brilliant examination of the twisted minds of the worst among us with no conscience. Her descriptions of the depraved sociopaths, the worst serial killers and rapists housed in the LA County Jail are graphic, disturbing, and brutally candid. She is also brutally honest about describing her own personal history and struggles and she is extremely candid about her feelings and reactions while working in this environment. Her indictment of the sexism displayed in the male dominated LA County Sheriff's Department is courageous and much needed. I greatly admire her personal honesty and courage as displayed in this book. Her writing is spellbinding and reminded greatly of the works of Joseph Wambaugh with its stark and brutal realism.
   I would highly recommend this book to anyone wish an understanding of why society needs to be protected from those around us with no conscience or empathy for others. She has also provided vital information to the warning signs of developing sociopathy personalities. This information is invaluable for anyone working with children and adolescents.
   Dr. Pelto's book will be a classic in the field of forensic psychology and a mega bestseller. It is must reading.

5 comments about Between Good and Evil: A Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators.

1. I just can't say enough GOOD about this book!!!!! It was a great page turner and hard to put down once started. I thought it would be primarily about profiling, but the added twist of how that affected his life and faith is phenomenal....



2. I am sure I have read the 'life story' type books of most of the well known profilers. I have to admit Roger L Depue was not a name I had come accross in any like books written in the same era. In fact I discovered only one well know book where his name appeared, then only a brief mention.
   That aside if you have an interest in this type of book this one is worth the read.
   The book essentially follows the life of Roger Depue from his childhood through his career as a rural police officer to the FBI. As most peoples' lives have there interesting aspects certainly anyone with the live experience of the author could not miss out in this area. Therefore I would see this book as esentially a biography. Certainly, in the book, there are many interesting examples of how profiling works and written in a style that is very easy to understand. The book also delves off into how his career and life events produced many 'turnings in the road'.
   One of the more interesting parts of the book I found was the author's brief summation of a number of the 'big name' profilers of that era. I found it interesting some get mentioned by their christian names and others by surname only. I guess we can form our own opinions as to why.
   Overall, yes 'Another Profiler's Life Story', but if you have an interest in that area, and don't mind a good dose of his personal life, go ahead and have a read. Might not be the best of these books but I found it interesting enough to go cover to cover in three 'sittings'.



3. He gives the insights of a profiler fine and good. But he is sickeningly boastful the whole book, not just in his description of profiler work, but before he even gets to that point. Its nothing but obvious delusion. Of course you have to try to make the book interesting, but you're NOT Charles Bronson, you're NOT Mike Tyson. I had to stop reading and skip forward in the book because I got tired of reading about how he won a fist fight in high school and then he said Claire Michigan was the closest thing the state had to the wild west, how he got beat up by two guys but should have paid attention because he could have taken them. That aspect of the book is nauseating. You would think he knocked out Muhammed Ali. I would skip this book if I had it to do over.



4. I enjoy profiling books and recommend John Douglas' Mindhunters and Obsession . This book has very little for the reader to learn except minor tidbits like how to tell (via "overkill") that the unsub was known to the victim. The book has a long backstory on the authors childhood, dating, marines, etc. and he seems like a bully. The last 1/3 of the book is his religion taking over which is boring. None of the life story or seminary time relate to criminal investigations, which is probably why you are interested in this type of book. The John Douglas books cover fascinating, yet horrible crimes while giving insights into clues to the traits of the criminal - thus are far more interesting than this book by Depue.



5. I do think criminal profiling is a valid service, and this book has some interesting moments detailing the author's career in that field, what his childhood and young adulthood were like that might have led him to such a career. I also thought his late-life foray into priesthood was fascinating. Basically, he's a good writer, however, the book is spotty. There are parts that drag and don't mesh with the rest of the book. And though I have no experience whatsoever, personally, with satanic cults, I have met a few credible, tragically damaged people who claim, with complete sincerity, the things that the author says are "impossible," because the FBI has looked into them for years and has never substantiated a case of, for example, child sacrifice/homicide. I, too, was skeptical at one time, and never gave it a second thought, but I must say - again - that a few people who seek no media attention for their stories, have confided some hair-raising stories that are quite similar in nature, though the parties telling them had no knowledge of each other, and were from different parts of the country. In a way, it reminds me a little of alien abduction stories - I'm sure the author would negate these, too, but there are just so many of them that have uniqely similar aspects, and credible witnesses. Still out on this subject...

5 comments about No Good Deed (Berkley True Crime).

1. I truly cannot finish this book. I have tried and tried, but just cannot. I even picked it up again after I saw a story of the crime on MSNBC. But the book is so badly written.........



2. This isn't a flashy story like so many we see in the media, but one of diligence. The murder of David Stevens was puzzling to the police and devastating to the Stevens family, as he had no dark side, no enemies, nothing that would cause him to be murdered so brutally. The only evidence was a set of palm prints on a mirror. The detectives had theories about what happened to David, and ran down every lead, but the only progress they made was ruling out suspects. The Stevens family felt the murder wasn't a priority, it wasn't solved in a timely manner, and they weren't being kept informed. They soon got caught up in a private detective's fantasy-world hypotheses and went public in their criticism of the police. After three years and nothing new happening, a call came in from a woman who claimed to have information on the murder. The story picks up, and we find out the strange and sad tale of David's last hours. If Ny Nourn had not come forward (for whatever her reasons were), the case may never have been solved, although I believe her involvement was more than what she testified to.



3. The story in itself is interesting, but not landmark. But what really hurts this book, is the writer. It reads as if written on some teenage boy's blog. Along with unneccessary commentary, Basinski includes constant comparisons to the O.J. Simpson trial. This opinion is not supported by actual research, by like so much of the book-mere commentary of the author. From page 191,
   "Maybe, in a burst of optimism, the defense attorneys might hope for a second-degree murder verdict based on Ron Barker's uncontrolled rage. Stranger things have happened. Remember a guy named O.J. Simpson?"
   Granted, many people joke about O.J. Simpson's innocence. However such jokes seem grossly out of place and read as unprofessional in such a book.
   It is if the whole book was written by free-association after doing the research. The author will switch from narrative writing to what one can only assume are his thoughts on what the person he is observing is thinking. Considering he supposedly interviewed many of these people, such liscense should not be allowed.
   There are also annoying little quips interjected throughout the text. After a defense lawyer's questioning where he asks for a dismissal for his client due to the fact that she was not involved with the cause of death, Basinski writes, "Yes, Mr. Stevens. I'm sorry to inform you your son's death was caused by two bullet wounds to the head and a gallon of gasoline." It's more a statement than the intended witty quip.
   There are many better books out there to spend your money on. I would recommend almost any other one.



4. I'm a fan of true crime and although this is a very gruesome case, I found it interesting to follow. . .but it was very poorly written and edited, reads more like a first draft. The inserted legal explanations--which interrupted the narrative--drove me nuts (most people who read these books are familiar with the terminology; if an author feels a need to insert the info, put a glossary in the back). This book could have been written so much better and it was irritating to shuffle through the choppy, repetitive sentences and poor grammar. I also wish the author had taken the time to research the two criminals' backgrounds more, to include--as Ann Rule does. That would have made the book so much better.



5. This book is quite well-written. I didn't see it on TV, but picked it up at a bookstore.
   
   Told from a pro-police point of view, the book covers all angles. The only way to improve it would be to have gotten more insight from the families of the victim and killers.
   
   The last few chapters giving the author's experience interviewing some of the key players was a good read.

3 comments about Massacre at the Palace: The Doomed Royal Dynasty of Nepal.

1. Though it failed to generate a huge amount of interest in the U.S., the killing of the entire royal family of Nepal by the country's Crown Prince is an incredible story. Had he not been a Royal, Crown Prince Dipendra would still have to go down as one of the most diabolical mass murderers in history. In all, he managed to kill his entire immediate family and five other close relatives in quick succession before turning his gun on himself.

   Author Jonathan Gregson sets the table by recounting the entire history of Nepal's royal family, which stretches back to the mid eighteenth century. To say that the dynasty has had an unhappy history is an understatement, and after awhile the numerous accounts of Royal bloodletting become monotonous. Nevertheless, this history is vital to the story.

   Flash forward to June 1, 2001. The Crown Prince is an unhappy man of thirty. An alcoholic and a drug addict, he has been denied permission to marry the woman he loves by his domineering mother and threatened with being removed from the line of succession to the throne. Gregson sets all of this up well and then recounts the bloody events as they happened. The secrective nature of Nepal's royal family and the god-like awe to which the king is still held there seems to have smewhat stunted Gregson's narrative. Still, he does a fine job with what he was able to decipher. Along the way, he paints a vivid portrait of a fiercely proud third world country that is forever wrestling with the conflict between traditionalism and modernism.

   Overall, "Massacre at the Palace" is an enlightening book that is full of surprises.




2. Drug use warning: The religious context of this book is Nepal, and the author, Jonathan Gregson, is likely to describe the Hindu temple attendants in Kathmandu as being stoned, a stunning departure from purity in a book about a curse that is described as: "It is also about ritual purity and, strange to say, the symbiotic relationship between cows and kings." (p. 6).

   I might have given up on this book, already, but it is difficult to decide. The most modern aspect of our global situation faced in this book is the enormously destructive power of modern weapons, but the psychological potential to find something beyond mere entertainment in the use of such tools of sudden destruction keeps being thwarted by shock. What was really great might already be lost. A lot of intellectual activity seems most meaningful when it still creates the impression that it is going someplace. It might be unsettling to readers and shoppers searching for modern consumer items, contemplating momentary enjoyment of the best that this market has to offer, that the best items available should be evaluated as historical artifacts, more meaningful as a memory in a lifetime that has already registered these deaths as part of the problems encountered in going with the flow. Could anything be worse than now, when shoppers merely contemplate them as objects that might be produced by prospective expenditures? This ought to make at least as much sense as page 16 of the New Republic of October 7, 2002, which quotes Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, telling my U.S. Senator, Mark Dayton of Minnesota, "What's different is three thousand people were killed!" Would this particular consumer item be worth less, if the only people who had ever been killed in Kathmandu's royal palace one day were Nepal's royal family?

   There is no index in this book, but it is unlikely that an index would have listed all the entries for cows, anyway. The first chapter is called "Of Cows and Kings," and the religious background for this book includes a curse on Prithvi Narayan Shah, the first king of the Royal family, which has ruled Nepal since 1769. "According to a legend that is as old as the Kingdom of Nepal," (p. 4) Gorakhnath was a Hindu sage, "and he lived only on milk, butter, and curd, the product of Hinduism's sacred cows." (p. 5). The story reminds me of a joke about cows which was fully explained by Calvin Trillin in a column called "Uncivil Liberties" (The Nation, 11/21/1988, p. 518). During the Iowa primary campaign, Trillin tried to suggest how the contest was overly sensitive to agricultural issues, and he later had to eat his words. "I would like to say in the most direct way possible that Michael Dukakis was never under the impression that you have to kill a cow to get the cheese. George Bush never said that the life of dairy farmers is particularly hard because they're often required to milk right through the cocktail hour." In response to his critics, Trillin wrote, "For those of you whose letters indicate that you see nothing at all strange about the proposition that you have to kill a cow to get the cheese, all I can say is that you ought to think about getting out a little more." This history of the doomed royal dynasty of Nepal applies that thinking to just about anyone who can't decide how much they should care about cows. High-caste Hindus in the Himalayas "had chosen to go into exile rather than live under beef-eating Muslims" (MASSACRE AT THE PALACE, p. 7) in India, but the army with which it had originally conquered Nepal included many warrior tribes, including beef-eaters. When there was gunfire in the Royal Palace of Nepal, it was usually "the crown prince practicing on one of the firing ranges, or blasting off at cats, bats, rats, crows, or just about anything else that moved." (p. ix). Stories about deer hunters who shoot a cow are usually about a mistake, or some kind of joke, and this book searches through history as if there must be some other possible explanation.

   For the royal family, modern times brought an inability to tell what mattered. "The king had to walk a fine line between his own liberal views and the minimum requirements of a Hindu monarch. He had little time for caste divisions nor, for that matter, the issue of cow slaughter, which is firmly linked with the Gorakhnath cult and is still a live issue today." (p. 113). It was not obvious what path would be best for the future, and the royal family was becoming too interested in personal fulfillment to offer realistic alternatives for Nepal or even for history. This is a serious book. Once you start reading it, you ought to be thinking about why it matters.




3. The book implicitly seems to think that the son killed their parents over what appears to be a minor disagreement. The only beneficiary was King Gayendra. There is a book on that - Raktakunda.
   
   Not sure who is right but assuming that King Gayendra's version as history is ridiculous.

5 comments about Desert Blood: The Jußrez Murders.

1. This book made the hair on my neck stand straight up! But I couldn't stop reading. The fact that it is fiction centered around real events made it even more horrifying and compelling. But even if the Juarez murders had not and were not taking place, this is still an incredible book. It's well written, the story riveting, and the characters (very important to me) are drawn with great reality. The protagonist, Ivon Villa, is a strong but flawed gay woman, fiercely loyal to her family in spite of her mother's hatefulness, and her iron will and determination make her a perfect vehicle for the non-fictional message of this book. BRAVO ALICIA!



2. Now this one was full of so many turns and kept pulling you in deeper, good read.



3. You won't be able to put this one down, and once you're done reading it, you'll want to help the women of Juarez. A great read, but an even greater source of vital information. Too many people are still unaware of the massive murdering of innocent young women along the U.S.-Mexico border, and Desert Blood sheds light on this horrible situation. I encourage you to read it and to take action informing others of the femicides in Juarez as well!



4. The sad fact is that the stories that should receive the most coverage in the news often go practically ignored. Since 1993 an atrocity has been going on at the US-Mexican border that has left hundreds of women raped, mutilated and dead while very little has been done to solve the crimes and stop whoever is behind them. This is the setting that Gaspar De Alba has chosen for her Lambda Award winning novel as she tells the story of Ivon Villa, who is drawn into the situation when her sistr disappears in Mexico.
   
   
   Desert Blood builds at a pace that leaves the reader feeling the growing terror Ivon experiences as she faces the idea that she may find her sister too late. There is so much to this plot that it almost becomes one of the book's weaknesses. There are three stories that run at once - the disappearances of Irene and the other women, Ivon's quest to adopt a child and her relationship with her family over her lesbianism. The stories of the women would have been enough to make a complete book and the other two strains sometimes distract from that. That could actually be a plus though because the one story is so horrific that the reader needs some release time away from it. One irritating aspect of the book is that De Alba includes a lot of comments in Spanish. Given the setting of the book, it's appropriate, but there are no translations for those readers who do not speak the language and the impression is left that parts of the story are being missed or not understood. A glossary of some time would have been helpful.
   
   The compelling nature of this story makes it a book that should be read. Anyone looking for a romance with steamy sex scenes won't find that here, but they will find an issue that will move them to anger and an extremely well written novel.



5. "historical fiction" (what on earth does that mean?)
   
   At the end, she lacks much knowledge of Mexican history to get this together.
   
   I'm sure she's really smart. But she was bound to fail here; too political and too many stereotypes)

5 comments about To Protect and to Serve: The LAPD's Century of War in the City of Dreams.

1. I gave this book 2 stars only because the historical information was well-researched and interesting. I did like reading about training, etc. from "back in the day". But...the biggest problem I have with this book is that the writer's anti-police attitude keeps getting in the way. If he doesn't like the LAPD, that's fine, it's his opinion, but such antics as writing sarcastic comments about "the look" of police officer's familes really left a bad taste in my mouth. I bought this book thinking it would be an "objective" history of the LAPD. I was greatly disappointed by Domanick's constant tirades that painted all LAPD officers with the same brush.



2. This engrossing history of the Los Angeles Police Department is well worth reading, not only as a study of what is good and bad about the development of modern American police methods, but as a detailed view of the history of Los Angeles. This is one non-fiction book that is hard to put down. A great read!

   My impression, contrary to some of the reviews posted here, is that Joe Domanick has focused on the facts and is not pursuing a political agenda. Much of what he says has been proven by recent events and makes sense in the light of the Rodney King case and its aftermath, as well as the O.J. case. His criticism is focused on the leadership and structure of the LAPD, rather than on characterizing individual officers as inherently bad. Ignore the right-wing screeds and give this book a try.




3. From the moment Domanick describes the families of police academy graduates as having the look of the "Orange county chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving," you know he's got an axe to grind. And he grinds it with undisguised bias for 430 pages. Even the captions to the B/W photos tell you he's got his agenda. Beneath a picture of the first LAPD chopper he writes, "Worshipping the god of technology." Gee, Joe, how about just getting there faster to find people who shoot ten year olds off their bikes. And then laugh about it with their homies. And stuff like hispanics gangsters who "laugh about the suffering they'd inflicted like dead-eyed cops over beers?" Bias as wide as the 405 and longer than the San Andreas fault. And in 430 pages, not a single mention of the Mexican Mafia, a criminal organization that puts a couple of hundred Latinos in graves every year. A lot of them kids and moms hit by stray bullets. And his take is that the fate of South Central was sealed with the arrival of "impoverished Mexicans" and Salvadorans fleeing civil war and "American-trained death squads." Right. They were so terrorized by American oppression back home that by the millions they voted with their feet to come to America, the very heart of the oppressor. Give us a break, Joe. Your paranoia is showing. Let's recap, shall we. The LAPD is evil. The US government is oppressive. Conservatives want to barbecue black babies. Reagan invented AIDS. And oh, yeah, the CIA dumps crack by the truckload in Compton. You know, just for laughs. Go with Lou Cannon's Official Negligence. Real reporting. No Axe.



4. I couldn't put down this page turner about the bad old days of the LAPD and the details of police culture....



5. Joe Domanick moved from Queens NY to Los Angeles in the mid 1970s. He noticed the unusual power and autonomy of the LAPD. The `Acknowledgments' list the people and sources who helped him with this 1994 book. Is the LAPD "the most powerful, most independent, most arrogant, most feared, and most political big-city police department" (p.7)? The 465 square miles of Los Angeles had the fewest police per resident, and no major police scandals as in other big cities (pp.13-14). The manufacturing economy of South Central and East L.A. collapsed in the late 1970s and created high unemployment (p.15). This book lacks references to the `Source Notes'.
   
   Part Two gives the history of Los Angeles and explains the development of the Police Department. August Vollmer began the professionalization to deal with corruption (p.49). What if this led to a powerful and independent entity? Police Chief James Davis invented the "dragnet" to stop and search for any "suspicious characters" (p.64). Mainstream reformers critical of the LAPD and City Hall were entrapped and arrested, the funds coming from organized crime (pp.54-56)! How could vice, gambling, and bootlegging flourish under a law-and-order police chief (p.56)? Davis also invented the "bum blockade" in 1936 to keep out people from other states (pp.60-62). The "Red Squad" broke strikes and attacked unions (pp.63-64). The shooting of a gambler united the forces of reform (p.75). Did the Intelligence Squad set a bomb in the car of an investigator for the reform movement (p.77)? Bill Parker rewrote Section 202 of the city charter to create new powers for all LAPD officers (p.94). There would be no checks and balances on the LAPD (p.95). There were no corruption scandals as in other big cities. "The Grip" described the "pro-active policing" of Bill Parker (p.111). These policies began to be overturned by the decisions of the Warren Supreme Court (p.113). That should tell you how "pro-active policing" violated the Constitution.
   
   Part 3, Chapter 6 describes the ruling class of Los Angeles, such as the Committee of Twenty-five (p.151). Shows like "Dragnet" helped to promote the city. Hollywood controls almost all TV and movies, they were under the influence of Bill Parker and the LAPD. The LAPD did not tolerate immigrant gangsters (p.156). Bill Parker's Intelligence division allowed him to manipulate politicians (p.157), helped real estate interests (p.159), and to control a mayor (p.171). "Senseless violence" seems to be the result of unrelenting oppression (p.229). Domanick is wrong to claim Proposition 13 was a "revolt of the affluent", it was a correct response to Nixon's devalued dollars and the war on the middle class. Part 6 Chapter 1 tells what happened after the working class L.A. was devastated by corporate policies (p.311). That quote from "48 hours" might be planted propaganda (p.327).
   
   When juries awarded LAPD's victims tens of millions of dollars in settlement awards, the city council authorized more money for a special police litigation unit (p.342). Again, Domanick doesnt' understand that "white people" (p.345) were getting hit with stagnant wages and rising costs. "Mass transit funds" (p.346) didn't help most people, only big corporations. Chapter 3 tells "The Raid on Dalton Avenue" was based on a false affidavit! LA now has the highest rates of violent crimes (p.355). Part 7 deals with the Rodney King encounter. The problem was the public didn't know "how to be arrested" (p.392)! Daryl Gates was suspended for 60 days. Gates knew how to do PR (p.395). The Christopher Commission decided Gates must go to improve the management of the LAPD (p.403). The verdict on the four LAPD officers was followed by an outbreak of fires and looting (Chapter 5). The LAPD did little (p.426). SNAFU (p.428)? The cause was Daryl Gates (p.429). The `Epilogue' sums it up. Proposition F passed, the LAPD would follow the rules, maybe (p.436).

No comments about True Crime: An American Anthology.