This effort to justify the death penalty features shocking moments that may not win over those with opposing views.
A retired circuit court judge who presided over the 2011 murder trial of Casey Anthony defends capital punishment in this treatise and memoir.
“There are certain evil people in this world who cannot be redeemed, and the death penalty is the proper punishment under Florida law,” the book states early on. Later, Perry, who’s now retired, goes further, directly invoking religion to justify his arguments: “Scripture makes it clear,” he concludes, “that the government has the authority to determine when death as a punishment is warranted.” Overall, Perry and co-author Mitchell offer a book that’s an unusual mix of fiery polemic, nostalgic memoir, and gruesome true-crime drama. The last is recounted in grimly granular forensic detail, and some readers may find the terrifying images hard to forget. Perry also tells of growing up in and around Orlando, Florida, where he would sometimes have to choose a switch with which his aunt could administer corporal punishment. A teacher administered similar “licks” with an automobile fan belt, he notes, and his own father—one of the first Black Orlando police officers—used a belt to inflict punishment. Rather than condemn these actions, the author lauds their effectiveness: “That kind of discipline stopped me from doing 60 percent of the things I knew were wrong.” Perry is steadfast in his perspective, and he addresses important issues revolving around victims’ rights; he looks at several cases, including one involving a woman who was brutally murdered by her estranged husband, and effectively discusses how the system can fail to protect victims. In 1998, when he was a Florida prosecutor,Perry witnessed the execution of convicted murderer Judy Buenoano in the electric chair, which he asserts was justified; many readers, and especially those against the death penalty, will find the description of the execution upsetting, but Perry argues otherwise: “It surprised me how smoothly the execution went and how quickly it was over,” the author recalls. “The entire event was antiseptic and routine.”
This effort to justify the death penalty features shocking moments that may not win over those with opposing views.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9798888455012
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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