Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge
On Sale October 4, 2016 by Nation Books
Rating: ★★★★
November 23, 2013. There's nothing remarkable about the 24 hours that made up that day, no reason the date sticks out in our collective memory. Five years later, there won't be a nationwide memorial scheduled, and we won't glance down at the calendar and gasp: "has it really been that long since...?"No, November 23, 2013 was just a typical, average day in America. And that means 10 children died from gun violence.
Author Gary Younge tells the story of these ten lives tragically cut short, and, in doing so, he tries to paint the picture of an entire nation. Because as much as this is the victims' story, Younge would argue that it's also ours as a whole.The only thing all ten young people profiled in this book have in common apart from the date and manner of their deaths was their gender. All ten victims were male. Their ages spanned from just nine to nineteen. They lived in rural Michigan, suburban Ohio, and inner-city Chicago. Seven of them were African-American. They were high school graduates with good jobs and gangbangers with criminal records. Some were shot deliberately, some by accident. None of them should have died that day.Younge does an excellent job of telling their stories, even in the two instances where the family refused to speak with him. He's honest and frank about the lives he memorializes. One of the victims was released from jail just days before his death and was rumored to have killed people. Apart from the two pre-teen victims, all had factors that make them "unsympathetic" in the eyes of the national media: a combination of trouble at home, trouble with the law, gang connections, and experimentation with drugs. But, as the author would argue, no one deserves to die of gun violence, no matter who they are.This book examines varied aspects of America's so-called gun culture. Raised in England, the author is unapologetic in his support of political gun control. He investigates issues like smart guns and why this technology is currently DOA, whether teaching gun safety to children leads to less accidents, and how joining a gang in some communities is as optional as voting for Kim Jong Un is for North Koreans. But the issue Younge touches on more than any other is the misguided idea of the "worthy victim." And, yet, I don't think it's random that the first chapter in the book is about the youngest boy to die that day: a fun-loving nine-year-old who gets stuck in the cross hairs of a domestic violence dispute.If you're a card carrying member of the NRA, this is probably not the book for you. As an American who generally supports the 2nd Amendment, but is open to restrictions like child locks and background checks, I found the author's approach measured and even-handed. I disagreed with some of his assertions on the role of economic class, and I raised an eyebrow at a father who didn't know the number of children he had, nor their birthdays, being praised as "devoted."It's not hard for me to recommend this book. 4.5 stars.
Can someone really fake their death in 2016? In the era of the internet, Google Earth, and surveillance cameras? In Playing Dead, Elizabeth Greenwood tackles that very question. With a mix of humor and dogged determination, Greenwood covers every aspect of death fraud-- from the investigators who hunt down the not-really-dead before their benefactors can cash in on bogus insurance claims, to the failed death fakers themselves. She even goes as far as to fake her own death via the active fraud network in the Phillipines. It's depressingly easy to attempt-- Greenwood's connections have no problem tracking down a body to unwillingly become the fake dead her-- but staggeringly difficult to master. No one ever contacted her to boast a successfully faked death.
I really enjoyed Greenwood's writing style. I did lose a bit of steam during the chapter on the "believers"-- otherwise normal seeming people who insist celebrities like Michael Jackson are not only alive but sending them coded messages. I know padding when I see it. However, on the whole, Playing Dead is a delightful book with an interesting premise.
This book is set to be published on August 9th 2016 by Simon & Schuster
Rating: ★★★★★
I don't think anyone likes writing one-star reviews. No one picks up a book and thinks, "I really hope I spend the next three to eight hours reading something I don't enjoy." I think the important thing is the lesson the reader takes away from the one-star book. After all, there must be a reason we finish some books and toss aside others. What I took from this book was a profound sense of respect for the privacy rights of the family of the missing. It's not something I'd given much thought to before. I don't think sometimes we, the public, realize how invasive our interest in missing persons cases can be. It's important to know where the line is between having a genuine, harmless interest and being a vulture.
For the most part, I think how I feel about an author should have no bearing on how I feel about their work. The exceptions for that are memoirs and cases where the author's writing has the potential to cause actual harm. True Crime Addiction ticks both boxes. I don't hold back here. I think lowly of James Renner. His behavior toward the Murray family and friends disgusts me, and I'm not impressed with his theorizing. I honestly don't know how this book got published.
Title: True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself In the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray
Author: James Renner
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date: 5/24/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★
James Renner is a creep. This is a man who posts pictures of random women on his blog, plucked from social media and other sources, and encourages his internet troll army to speculate whether or not they are "really" Maura Murray. This is a man who has called Maura Murray a sociopath, a baseless accusation that in no way suggests Renner cares about the subject of his obsession. This is a guy who drove drunk to simulate Murray's possibly inebriated drive through New Hampshire. He could have killed someone. This is a guy who punches a cop and thinks he's the victim. According to a personality test, he tested as "similar to Ted Bundy." Hmmm.
Despite assuming a position of authority and asserting himself to be an important part of the investigation, Renner has no real press credentials. He's on the outside of this investigation, looking in, demanding answers he's not entitled to and making it up as he goes along.
A large portion of this book focuses on Renner himself-- his serial rapist grandfather, his almost-abduction as a child, his inner demons. I have to say, it's not a boring story. And it's honest. That's more than I can say about the portions about the Murray investigation. Those are less honest. There he relies on inane details fed to him from internet sleuths that he then sensationalizes and puffs up. He treats rumor and innuendo as fact.
Renner stalks Murray's family and friends, and when they won't talk to him he decides it's because they are hiding secrets-- secrets he makes up in his head. Renner hints that Maura's father won't talk to him because he's hiding sexual abuse. There's no evidence of that, at all. A friend won't talk to him because she's hiding that she helped Murray escape. There's no evidence of that, at all. Families of the missing are NOT public property. They don't have to answer questions from every Tom and Harry just because. They have no obligation to satisfy curiosities or entertain conspiracy theories. No one owes Renner an interview no matter how badly he wants one. The Murray family clearly does not believe talking to him will help find Maura. They are entitled to make that determination, and I don't disagree with it.
Renner speculates that Maura may have been pregnant. There was birth control pills found in her car at the time of her disappearance, a detail that's pushed aside in favor of veiled hints. Renner isn't shy of portraying Murray as a promiscuous woman with lots of secret men in the shadows. He insists Murray was followed to New Hampshire by a tandem driver. No one saw the headlights or saw the car or heard the car. His theory is that the driver "doubled back" once Murray crashed, very possibly drunk (wine spilled all over the car) and ushered her off to her new life in Canada. It doesn't make a lot of logical sense. If the second car had seen Maura crash, it would have been seen by the eyewitnesses. If it was too far ahead to see the crash, Maura would have needed to contact the driver-- but there is no cell service in that area. Plus, she left her car full of her possessions, things she must have felt were important enough to take to her new life. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's unlikely enough that a "journalist" like Renner should have the sense not to treat it as fact.
Maura Murray was not a perfect person. She was, however, by all accounts, a nice girl with flaws. She was in her early 20s and had her whole life ahead of her. Who knows what she could have achieved. James Renner has turned her disappearance into a cottage industry and is banking on it, big time. And goodness knows a tabloid-style story sells. I just feel sorry for the people caught up in the tidal wave of Renner's ego.
Please don't read this book.
