A revealing look at the legal system, a compelling human rights story and an inspirational tale of dedicated people who...
A cadre of dedicated Yalies takes on the U.S. government in the case of Haitian refugees in the early 1990s.
Before Guantánamo Naval Base in Cuba made headlines for its detention of suspected terrorists, it served as temporary home to some 12,000 Haitian refugees fleeing the sadistic military regime that in 1991 ousted newly elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. When a group of Yale law students learned that the Immigration and Naturalization Service was returning nearly all the refugees to Haiti, where they would face persecution—and perhaps even death—the students decided to sue the government. Led by professors Harold H. Koh and Michael Ratner, the students put aside class, work and graduation preparations to pursue the case, conducting all-night research sessions and traveling to interview the detainees. They argued all the way to the Supreme Court, focusing worldwide attention on the plight of some 300 HIV-positive refugees incarcerated in Guantánamo’s squalid detention center. Both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton (who had decried his predecessor’s Haitian policy during the presidential campaign) were content to let the detainees languish indefinitely. Aided by the high-powered firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, who worked pro bono, the students eventually won the Haitians’ release and brought them to the U.S. Journalist Goldstein, himself a Yale Law grad, manages to bring passion and drama to a story that consists primarily of legal filings. It helps that he focuses on the wrenching story of one activist refugee who was forced to leave her family behind in Haiti. The dozen or so students are less clearly drawn, but no less heroic for risking their careers.
A revealing look at the legal system, a compelling human rights story and an inspirational tale of dedicated people who refused to accept the status quo.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2005
ISBN: 0-7432-3001-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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