Berendt, John - Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (July 1999) Heralded as a "lyrical work of nonfiction," the book's extremely graceful prose depictions of some of Savannah, Georgia's most colorful eccentrics--remarkable characters who could have once prospered in a William Faulkner novel or Eudora Welty short story--were certainly a critical factor in its tremendous success. (One resident into whose orbit Berendt fell, the Lady Chablis, went on to become a minor celebrity in her own right.) But equally important was Berendt's depiction of Savannah socialite Jim Williams as he stands trial for the murder of Danny Hansford, a moody, violence-prone hustler--and sometime companion to Williams--characterized by locals as a "walking streak of sex." Bergner, Daniel - God of the Rodeo : The Search for Hope, Faith, and a Six-Second Ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison (October 1998) Not since Truman Capote's “In Cold Blood” has a writer so humanely evoked the complicated, harrowing lives of violent convicts. At turns haunting and inspiring, God of the Rodeo is novelist-journalist Daniel Bergner's riveting account of a year spent visiting the maximum-security prison at Angola, Louisiana, also known as "the last slave plantation." Initially there to report on the prison's annual four-weekend rodeo in October 1996 for Harper's, he was able to extend his stay for a full year when he was granted complete, unsupervised access to the seven prisoners with whom he became most closely acquainted. Burleigh, Nina - A Very Private Woman : The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer (October 1998) On October 12, 1964, socialite Mary Meyer was shot to death along a wooded path where she was taking her afternoon walk. Ordinarily such a crime wouldn't attract the attention of the CIA's head of counterintelligence, but Meyer was no ordinary Washington socialite. Born into a wealthy, bohemian family in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Meyer studied at Vassar, worked as a journalist during World War II, married--and later divorced--a war hero, became a proto-feminist, experimented with drugs, and had an affair with John F. Kennedy. When Meyer decided to try LSD, she didn't get it from some random dealer and trip in the park. Instead she turned to Timothy Leary himself--and, evidence suggests, she might have eventually shared her stash with the President of the United States. Shortly after Meyer was found dead, her diaries were spirited away: her brother-in-law, Ben Bradlee, turned the documents over to the aforementioned CIA official, James Jesus Angleton, believing that it was in her, and others', best interest that her secrets die with her. A Very Private Woman pieces together some of these secrets, and hints at many more. It's a compelling story not only of a woman who lived at the edges of power, influence, and history, but who lived in and was buffeted by some of the most significant cultural changes of the second half of the 20th century. Cohen, Patricia Cline - The Murder of Helen Jewett : The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century New York (July 1999) In 1836, the murder of young New York City prostitute Helen Jewett and the ensuing trial of her lover captivated the nation. A bright, literate girl working as a respected Maine families servant, Jewett was "disgraced," losing her virginity outside of wedlock, and eventually taking up work as a prostitute in bustling New York City. One of her clients, Richard Robinson, was a young clerk of uncommon literary talent. The two exchanged a long series of letters, often loving and careful, then as quickly as a summer storm, they turned violent and angry. Early on the morning of April 10, 1836, Robinson stabbed Jewett to death in her brothel room and set fire to her bed. Cohen ably places this rather ordinary crime within the context of 19th-century urban life and the development of a fledgling tabloid journalism, showing how people throughout America came to be shocked by a crime that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Dumas, Timothy - Greentown : Murder and Mystery in Greenwich, America's Wealthiest Community (April 1998) In examining the still-unsolved 1975 murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in a wealthy suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, first-time author Timothy Dumas does not attempt to deliver a knockout punch of new evidence that might crack the case wide open. Instead, Dumas takes his readers on a literate excursion through the darkest secrets and fears of the girl's neighbors and fellow townspeople as they attempt to cope--first with the murder itself, and then with the helplessness of almost a quarter century of frustration as the case remains unsolved. Note: A different perspective on the Moxley case is found in the pages of Murder in Greenwich by Mark Fuhrman. John Follain - Jackal : The Complete Story of the Legendary Terrorist, Carlos the Jackal (October 1998) Ilich Ramirez Sanchez once called himself a "professional revolutionary." During a career in international terrorism lasting more than two decades, Sanchez--better known as Carlos the Jackal--murdered 83 people by his own count, once held several dozen oil ministers hostage during an OPEC meeting, and "freelanced" for, among others, Muammar al-Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and the Italian Red Brigade. Before his eventual capture in 1994 and subsequent trial and imprisonment in France, the Jackal's reputation as a "terrorist's terrorist" was unsurpassed. Dozens of hijackings, bombings, and assassinations were blamed on him, whether or not he was involved (which led him to stand before a French court and accuse everyone within view of libel). Mark Fuhrman - Murder in Greenwich : Who Killed Martha Moxley? (February 1999) On October 30, 1975, 15-year-old Martha Moxley was murdered with a golf club on the grounds of her family's exclusive Greenwich, Connecticut, home. The club belonged to the Skakel family. Thomas and Michael Skakel, nephews of Ethel Kennedy, are brothers who had been with Martha the night she died. When police started looking closely at the boys' involvement, the Skakel family, wealthy and prominent and related to the Kennedys, refused to cooperate. Here, investigator Mark Fuhrman analyzes this still unsolved murder and uncovers explosive new information. (See also Greentown : Murder and Mystery in Greenwich, America's Wealthiest Community by Timothy Dumas) Edward George, Dary Matera - Taming the Beast : Charles Manson's Life Behind Bars (April 1998) Edward George understands Charles Manson as few others ever will. Former prison counselor to the messianic killer, George enraged Manson as an agent of the state's criminal justice system, listened to him as a trusted confessor, spoke for him as an erstwhile press agent and--almost--connected with him as a friend. George saw Manson in a way the public never would, witnessing the method to his madness, the charisma that underlies his sickness, the pathetic abandoned boy within the homicidal man. If you read Helter Skelter and think you know the whole story about Charlie Manson, think again. Bernard Lefkowitz - Our Guys : The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb (May 1998) Leslie, a sweet-natured young woman with the mental age of an 8-year-old, just wanted to be friends with the high school football stars. When they invited her down into the basement rec room of a suburban home, she jumped with joy at being included. The young men raped her--with a baseball bat and a broomstick. In this vividly detailed book, Bernard Lefkowitz brings us into the daily life of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, the hometown of Tom Cruise. It's an affluent white community that values propriety, order, discretion, continuity, and a fantasy of the gentleman-athlete. Lefkowitz writes of the boys who raped Leslie: "'These Glen Ridge kids, they were pure gold, every mother's dream, every father's pride. They were not only Glen Ridge's finest, but in their perfection they belonged to all of us. They were Our Guys." What's ultimately most shocking about this crime is how ordinary it was, how predictable--how in one way or another it's happening now, all across America. Jack Olsen - Hastened to the Grave : The Gypsy Murder Investigation (May 1998) Jack Olsen's latest book features a delightful hero: a female private investigator who calls herself "Rat Dog Dick." She's probably the best skip tracer in San Francisco, and once she gets her teeth into the "Foxglove" case--in which several old people die quickly after being "befriended" by a local Gypsy family--the fact that she has no client to pay her for her work is just not an issue. Jack Olsen's prose style is supple and engaging, with funny dialogue and colorful characters worthy of an Elmore Leonard novel. His account of Gypsy crime and police negligence is both balanced and thought-provoking. Daniel Petrocelli, Peter Knobler (Contributor) - Triumph of Justice : Closing the Book On the Simpson Saga (April 1998) Daniel Petrocelli is the attorney who represented Fred Goldman and his family in their civil suit against O.J. Simpson for the death of their son Ron. (As such, he also coordinated the simultaneous prosecution of suits brought by Ron Goldman's biological mother and by the estate of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.) In "Triumph of Justice," Petrocelli tells readers how he was able to succeed where Marcia Clark and Chris Darden failed, convincing a jury that Simpson was indeed liable for the two deaths. John Walsh, Susan Schindehette (Contributor), Connor Hartnett - Tears of Rage : From Grieving Father to Crusader for Justice : The Untold Story of the Adam Walsh Case (July 1998) In this aptly titled book, John Walsh traces the steps that led him from being a grieving father to becoming a grieving father who hosts TV's "America's Most Wanted," the Fox true crime show that hunts down bad guys every week through a toll-free tip line. Walsh, however, seems ambivalent about the fame he's been granted. He presents a somewhat halting, uncertain narrative in this autobiography (cowritten with Susan Schindehette), and he makes it clear all the way through that his life is really only driven by one thing: the still-unsolved 1981 abduction and murder of his 6-year- old son, Adam. Simon Winchester - The Professor and the Madman (September 1998) When the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary put out a call during the late 19th century pleading for "men of letters" to provide help with their mammoth undertaking, hundreds of responses came forth. Some helpers, like Dr. W.C. Minor, provided literally thousands of entries to the editors. But Minor, an American expatriate in England and a Civil War veteran, was actually a certified lunatic who turned in his dictionary entries from the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Simon Winchester has produced a mesmerizing coda to the deeply troubled Minor's life, a life that in one sense began with the senseless murder of an innocent British brewery worker whom the deluded Minor believed was an assassin sent by one of his numerous "enemies."
