Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind (Penguin Us)
by Bruce Watson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bruce WatsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Illustrated
Published: 2008-11-25
ISBN: 014311428X
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780143114284
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Book Reviews of Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind (Penguin Us)
Book Review: Modern history + true crime=excellent book
Summary: 4 Stars
Prior to picking up Bruce Watson's "Sacco and Vanzetti" I had yet to come across an uninteresting book, fictional or otherwise, dealing with the social and political struggles that accompanied the first quarter of the 20th century in the United States, and this book did not become the first. Combining a compelling true-crime story with an examination of the larger social and political forces that shaped it, the book manages to take a case that's been endlessly sensationalized and oversimplified for various propaganda purposes and place it squarely in the real world, and endow central players frequently turned into symbols or caricatures with all the flaws and personal oddities of real people. Along the way, Watson details just how a simple robbery and murder in the small industrial town of Braintree, Massachusetts (now best known for its overcrowded upscale mall) eventually evolved into a case that captured the passions of millions the world over.
Watson doesn't aim to argue for Sacco and Vanzetti's guilt or innocence, but rather to capture the crippling uncertainty presented by the actual facts of the case and the atmosphere of prejudice and mutual distrust that allowed it to so deeply inflame the era's existing divisions. The seven years of courtroom drama and behind-the-scenes legal maneuvering form the foundation of the story, but it's Watson's evocation of this atmosphere of hysteria and sensationalism surrounding the case that provides the most fascinating reading. The book's faithful recitations of the frequently tortuous and interminable courtroom proceedings can get a bit wearisome, but they do manage to drive home the sheer difficulty of determining guilt or innocence when confronted with reams of inconclusive evidence and conflicting expert and eyewitness testimony frequently undermined by faulty memories and personal agendas. The book's police procedural elements and its ample legal maneuverings and courtroom drama are, of course, supplemented by exactingly detailed portraits of Sacco and Vanzetti themselves, both of whom are brought to life through extended discussions of their relationships, personalities, beliefs, and writings. Watson does take a generally sympathetic view of the story's two central figures, mixing examinations of their politics with personal details of their lives, but without ignoring the legitimate concerns about their possible guilt or the violent acts committed by some of their fellow travelers.
Given how difficult it was to achieve any sort of certainty with the facts at hand, it's little wonder the case became a canvas on which Americans (and Europeans, South Americans, and others) projected their wider sociopolitical views. With the working classes and the monied elites increasingly at odds in the U.S. and elsewhere, Sacco and Vanzetti made prime targets for an overzealous prosecutor and intractable, reactionary judge backed by a public that found in two Italian anarchists convenient scapegoats for what they thought ailed the country. At the same time, of course, the two were practically gifts from the heavens for leftists, who were all too eager to turn Sacco and Vanzetti into symbols of the oppression of working people, immigrants, and radicals, with little to no regard for their actual guilt or innocence. The book mainly leaves unanswered the question of how much of a middle ground (if any) existed in public opinion of the case, instead focusing on the most hard-line of posturing and rhetoric from both sides to provide a stark portrait of the tenor of the times that manages to remain relevant to this day. In Watson's telling, opinions about Sacco and Vanzetti's guilt or innocence were based less on a consideration of the facts than on one's view of the American system circa 1920--those who favored the established order and hierarchy arguing for guilt, those who saw exploitation and oppression all over the country proclaiming innocence, and each side digging in deeper with every development that seemed to bolster its position.
Ultimately, "Sacco and Vanzetti" transcends its immediate subject to serve as a telling reminder of the divisiveness that grips even the most advanced of societies, and the way people will grasp desperately for a feeling of certainty even when confronted with the most unclear of situations. While the current War on Terror is never mentioned, it doesn't take much of a stretch to see parallels between the rampant fears of violence, intolerance for ambiguity, and with-us-or-against-us mentality that (rightly or not) has come to characterize both Sacco and Vanzetti's era and our own. If one of Watson's goals in writing this book was to document how little things change from decade to decade, it can certainly be considered a success. And for anyone who thinks human behavior is rooted in logic and rational thought, it should serve as a stern reminder of how the world really works.
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Summary of Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind (Penguin Us)
In this groundbreaking narrative of one of America?s most divisive trials and executions, award-winning journalist Bruce Watson mines deep archives and newly available sources to paint the most complete portrait available of the ?good shoemaker? and the ?poor fish peddler.? Opening with an explosion that rocks a quiet Washington, D.C., neighborhood and concluding with worldwide outrage as two men are executed despite widespread doubts about their guilt, Sacco & Vanzetti is the definitive history of an infamous case that still haunts the American imagination.General Books
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