Captivating but flawed crime story attempting to link a crooked Arkansas sheriff, a shady prosecutor, and then-Governor Bill Clinton in a criminal conspiracy. Forrest City, Arkansas, home to 14,000, sits hard by the Mississippi and was, in the mid-80's, run under the aegis of county sheriff Coolidge Conlee. According to Memphis Commercial Appeal reporter Reel, Conlee apparently also ran a high-stakes gambling operation; oversaw drug distribution; and was closely allied to district prosecutor Gene Raff, who ``some said'' was appointed as a political favor by Clinton. The trouble began when the daughter of a prominent citizen (and lifelong friend of Raff's) was raped. Her second cousin once removed was Clinton—and on this hinge Reel hangs his indictment of the President. After identifying as her rapist a man who turned out to have an airtight alibi, the victim fingered a handyman named Wayne Dumond. Unable to pick out Dumond at lineup, the victim, ``some said,'' was told by Conlee who to choose. Awaiting trial, Dumond was attacked in his trailer by two men who forced him into fellatio, then hog-tied and castrated him. At his trial, Raff contended that Dumond had castrated himself (``Was that before or after I tied myself up?'' Dumond asked), and the man was sentenced to life plus 20 years. Turned away by Arkansas courts despite apparent irrefutable evidence of his innocence (including DNA matching), Dumond approached the parole board, who recommended to Clinton that the prisoner be released immediately. Clinton refused, and the board, without precedent, ruled that Dumond serve time. Reel quotes a local attorney as saying that Raff destroyed the putative attacker of Clinton's family as a political favor to Clinton. An engrossing story that should appeal to true-crime fans undaunted by its tabloid-style insinuations about the President. The Clinton name, though, may supply enough fuel to shoot this book into a wide readership and 15 minutes of fame. (First printing of 30,000)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-87975-841-4
Page Count: 266
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1993
A measured account of the development of the Soviet bomb program by Holloway (Political Science/Stanford, The Soviet Union and the Arms Race, 1983) that contrives to be both technically comprehensive and gripping. Using interviews with some of the main protagonists, such as Kapitsa and Sakharov (though before they were able to talk fully), and access to those archives that have become available in Russia, Holloway clarifies a number of issues. He confirms that the Soviets were heavily dependent on espionage to provide both a sense of the seriousness with which the British (and later the Americans) were pursuing nuclear weapons, and guidelines to their methods. Still, the success of the Soviet Union in constructing such a weapon, in almost the same amount of time as the US, was a ``remarkable feat,'' given the devastation of the Soviet economy after the war. The Communist command-administrative system, Holloway notes, ``showed itself able to mobilize resources on a massive scale, and to channel them into a top priority project.'' It was, however, at immense cost both in terms of the hundreds of thousands of prisoners toiling in the uranium mines and elsewhere, the appalling health and safety record, and the damage to the environment. The building of the hydrogen bomb, by contrast, was largely and no less remarkably an indigenous Soviet achievement. Little credit seems due to Stalin, who was responsible for shooting many of the top physicists during the purges and who understood the significance of nuclear weapons only after the explosion at Alamogordo. Nor does Holloway think much of Stalin's postwar policies, which succeeded in unifying the West and causing it to rearm, though he concludes that Stalin's refusal to be browbeaten made the US more cautious about asserting its nuclear monopoly. What could have been a dry technical and analytical study is enlivened by the immensity of the issues at stake and the extraordinary characters populating the story.
Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1994
ISBN: 0-300-06056-4
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
A poignant, heartfelt account of caring for children dying of AIDS. McCarroll, known as Brother Toby, initially retraces some of what he covered in Morning-Glory Babies (1988) about the formation of the Starcross Community, a lay Benedictine monastery in Sonoma, Calif. The community has been alternately tolerated and rejected by the Catholic hierarchy, which is apparently leery of its New Age influences. The celibates, both male and female, found their calling in adopting unwanted children, most of whom are HIV- positive. They soon attracted national attention for their efforts. Most of this slim volume is devoted to relating the stories of two particular children who challenged and changed Brother Toby's life in special ways. Tina, whom the author calls his ``daughter,'' was born and brought to the monastery when the monk was 57, having already raised and lost children of his own. Continually weakened by the virus and hospitalized with AIDS-related infections, Tina died three years later. Before she did, however, she grew into a willful, loving toddler who had her adopted father wrapped around her little finger. The other story is that of Brother Toby's goddaughter, Dana Rica. She was Romanian, and much of the book recounts the community's struggles with that country's bureaucracy on behalf of Dana Rica and other afflicted children. The girl's visit to Starcross was a high point for Brother Toby. His life, like the book, is filled with little miracles—a father singing to his daughter; watching a child play, dance, or laugh—and a quiet faith that death does not have the last word. Even with the grim subject matter and all the pain, this is a triumphant story that never degenerates into banality. It is the account of a group of people determined to make a difference—and of those who made a difference to them.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-312-11253-X
Page Count: 112
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
