Amazon.com
This is the David-and-Goliath story of how an American bureaucrat took on the tobacco industry--and helped topple it. David Kessler, head of the Food and Drug Administration for seven years under Presidents Bush and Clinton, earned the nickname "Eliot Knessler" from The Washington Post--a pun meant to evoke the memory of the Prohibition-era gangbuster--because he rejuvenated a moribund agency. The FDA regulated, in Kessler's words, "one quarter of every dollar Americans spent--from the food they eat to the drugs they take to the cosmetics they wear." Yet it lacked the courage to take on the country's most lethal product: cigarettes. So did Kessler, at least initially. He agreed with aides and others that Big Tobacco was too powerful a force in Washington, D.C. "The industry perceived threats everywhere, and responded to them ferociously," he writes. Moreover, challenging the industry would waste important resources that could have a more tangible benefit for consumers if they were spent elsewhere. Even before making the choice to go after cigarettes, Kessler was a figure of controversy, and this only intensified when he became one of the few Republican holdovers in the Clinton administration.
Much of the book deals with the routine business of the FDA: orange-juice seizures, a fight to restrict the sale of body tissues from foreign sources, how he responded to complaints that syringes were found in Pepsi cans, and so on. But the driving force behind Kessler's narrative is how he slowly woke up to the possibility of regulating cigarettes. "It is too easy to be swayed by the argument that tobacco is a legal product and should be treated like any other," he writes. "A product that kills people--when used as intended--is different. No one should be allowed to make a profit from that." His story is a lesson in Washington power politics--a game he played with naiveté when he started but was expert at by the end of his tenure.
To say Kessler and his team of FDA regulators "defeated" Big Tobacco is an overstatement: they were part of a broader effort that included trial lawyers, consumer groups, and crusading journalists, and the industry hasn't exactly gone away. But they were instrumental in forcing tobacco companies to admit that nicotine is addictive and cigarettes cause cancer, and in bringing about a sea change in the industry's legal and popular standing. Kessler now believes in regulation so tight it will strangle Big Tobacco forever: "If our goal is to halt this manmade epidemic," he writes, "the tobacco industry, as currently configured, needs to be dismantled." A Question of Intent is a well-told muckraker. It unfolds deliberately, like a good detective story. Admirers of Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action, especially those with a taste for public policy, won't be disappointed. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Now in paperback: former FDA commissioner David Kessler's non-fiction legal thriller about his agency's fight with Big Tobacco. Dubbed "Eliot Knessler" by The Washington Post, due to the way he resurrected a moribund government agency, FDA Commissioner David Kessler launched a carefully considered, thorough, and aggressive assault against the previously unassailable tobacco industry. His attempt to regulate tobacco as a drug was met with all of the industry's now notorious practices: legal stonewalling, manipulation of "bought" elected officials, intimidation, and outright lies. Kessler tackled all of these challenges with the vigor of a man perhaps outgunned but not outmaneuvered. At the height the FDA's legal battle, U.S. News and World Report called Kessler "somebody you can tell your children about" and compared him to the protagonists of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and To Kill a Mockingbird. Like those classic American stories, A Question of Intent is about the search for truth, the choices people make, and right and wrong. It is about moral courage.
Customer Reviews:
An Educating and Entertaining Read.......2007-04-25
David Kessler in A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry provides readers with an entertaining and educating read that serves as a guide for organizations while showing an detailed view of bureaucracy, the media, and government organizations. He effectively displays the numerous benefits of affiliation between organizations and their leaders when trying to change the regulation over tobacco. Kessler also does a great job showing the role of a President and the effect he or she can have on organizations when they get to choose the leading personnel. Where Kessler falls short though is in providing a well organized story, free of excess personal narratives, and repetition. Do these errors tend to negate the quality of the book as a whole? No, but it makes me question his editor and the intentions he or she had in the scattered layout and whether included memoir aspects were entirely necessary.
By bringing the reader directly into the Food and Drug Administration's everyday happenings, Kessler is able to display the decision process of a government organization, while adding an element of suspense. His emphasizes the importance of connections and affiliation and teaches readers the scope and impact that lobbyists can have on the outcome of policies. He often describes that "too late" he realized that he had been "sandbagged by...lobbyists" and "overlooked [the] key tactical step" of lining up more support and connections (Kessler, 48). He shows that it was only through the support of his older staff and political connections that he was able to move forward in his fight for tobacco regulation.
The involvement of the reader in the processes Kessler and his team had to go through to get government attention on the regulation of tobacco could easily serve as a guide for other struggling organizations. He shows in detail how they used the media and were careful about their timing when making decisions. For instance, Kessler asked credible journalists to downplay stories to the New York Times to the extent that newspapers wouldn't even write about events such as the American Red Cross' bad blood supply. This manipulation of the media was useful to the organization by downplaying bad press and avoiding un-needed fear and panic. For other organizations who find themselves in the heat of the media, they might want to take notes from Kessler and his experiences
Another positive aspect of Kessler's book was his ability to show the vital role of the President. Most readers, like myself, would be surprised to learn that the President can have such a vital effect on issues such as food labeling. Kessler describes the difficulty and "maneuvering" it took to get amendments on the underage purchases of cigarettes on the Presidents desk (Kessler, 98). Once they got there, he describes how a Congressional hearing was crucial in how the media framed the issue - eventually leading to the impression the American public got on the topic. Overall, his book gives a great overview of what it takes to get an issue to the desk of the President, and how the steps taken after that can shape public opinion and determine the fate or success of a proposed amendment.
In the end, Kessler and his editor could have improved on the organization of the book. The subject of each 3-7 page chapter skips from topic to topic. It gets tedious when the reader has to continually shift his or her focus from tobacco to fresh food labels to the AIDS drug progression then back to tobacco - all with a little autobiographical information thrown into the mix. At the same time, Kessler consistently switches between using character's first and last names. One minute he's calling a successful reporter "Jim," like they're best friends, the next referring to him as "O'Hara" who had a "reputation among reporters for credibility" (Kessler, 92). The inconsistency is unnecessary and confusing.
Another detail that distracted from a smooth read from a trustworthy author, is his insistence on showing he "did not know" what he was doing, or that he "should have realized" that many of his decisions would have negative effects. Readers already understand no person is perfect, there is no reason to keep reminding them up to two or three times a page.
For readers who want an entertaining, yet educational read, Kessler's book provides both. While it does have its minor errors and editorial mishaps, his ability to produce a book that readers like a thriller yet explains the inner-workings of bureaucracy in a simple-to-understand way is uncanny. Lessons can be learned by regular readers seeking more information on a much debated topic - the regulation of tobacco - or big organizations looking to revitalize their strategies to achieve greater success in their goals.
great expose of an evil industry.......2005-10-01
America, for all its faults, is the battlefield on which many of the world's most important health questions are being fought. None of those is more important than the questions this excellent book addresses. Is nicotine a narcotic? Are America's major cigarette companies, collectively known as Big Tobacco, deliberately turning their customers into nicotine addicts?
They were the key questions David Kessler tackled when he was Commissioner of America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1990 to 1997. Kessler, who is now Dean of the Yale University Law School, fought a tenacious battle with Big Tobacco and its powerful allies on Capitol Hill during those years. The battle was so tough and Big Tobacco so ruthless that Kessler and his small team were often compared to Elliot Ness and his small band of Untouchables who slugged it out with Al Capone's army of gangsters and corrupt politicians during the Prohibition years.
Certainly, the tenacity of Big Tobacco in the face of overwhelming evidence that damns its product can only remind the reader of Al Capone and America's Organized Crime, whose sole god is ill gotten money. Big Tobacco practiced, for example, the code of Omerta and, if Kessler is to be believed, former employees who gave evidence against them lived in fear of their lives. Big Tobacco had armies of lawyers and US Congressmen in their corporate pockets. All they seemed short of was organizing the gangland-style hits that were Capone's specialty.
Indeed, the specters of Ness and Capone are never too far away. Kessler hired special investigators trained by America's elite combat forces to interrogate witnesses. One member of Kessler's squad trawled all of America's seaports to uncover key evidence that Big Tobacco had illegally imported genetically modified tobacco into the United States. The book is, in many ways, a classic detective story needing only Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, Tom Hanks or some other celluloid figure to bring it to life. It races along from the very first page to the final denouement.
Big Tobacco's four-pronged counter-strategy against the FDA is also equally fast-paced. Working with military precision, it used, as page 169 tells us, frontal assaults, surgical strikes, allied attacks and air cover to overwhelm the offices and efforts of Kessler and his team. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco knew what side its bread was buttered on. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco's bosses proved themselves to be ruthless and cynical competitors with pitiless cash registers for hearts. Their proud boast was that they had more money than God.
Their vast war chests poisoned public debate in America for many years just as their product continues to poison the bodies of their fellow Americans. As well as the armies of hired lawyers who were central to their strategy, they employed mercenary academics to rubber-stamp their products with a scientific sheen of respectability. The aura of scientific impartiality these academics bartered away helped Big Tobacco's bosses accumulate their almost limitless wealth, buy their way into Capitol Hill and jam the world's hospital cancer wards full with cigarette smokers. Although Kessler names some of these contemptible researchers, he goes much further. By exposing their mercenary motives, he discredits them and Big Tobacco, which paid them their ultimately puny pieces of silver.
The book, despite its topicality, starts off with a quote from the Odes of Horace, which tells us that "The guilty have a head start, and retribution is always slow of start, but it catches up." Fortunately, the net is finally beginning to close in on Big Tobacco and its tainted allies. Thanks to people like Kessler and his team of Untouchables, the nicotine debate is starting to be aired out into the open.
Sometimes, of course, the cure is worse than the disease. Kessler's comments about nicotine nasal sprays should be enough to make anyone feel pity for the nicotine abuser and disgust at the companies which can conceive, let alone peddle such an obnoxious product.
No sympathy whatsoever can be spared for Kessler's villains. Though bloodied, Big Tobacco is far from bowed. It continues to ensnare American schoolchildren with its product and to export its deadly product to the four ends of the earth. Despite Big Tobacco's enviable revenues, its feet of clay and the tissues of lies it surrounds itself with have both been well exposed by this great book, which President Jimmy Carter and a host of other luminaries endorse. The hope must now be, as Kessler puts it, that Big Tobacco will eventually be drummed out of business altogether. Their demise would not only make the air we breathe cleaner. It would also help clean up the corridors of power, which Big Tobacco so thoroughly infected with its own insatiable addiction to the profit motive.
A Breath of Fresh Air.......2004-03-25
Thank you, Dr. Kessler, for pursuing the tobacco dragon and for writing this book. It should be required reading for every medical and divinity school student.
Civics lesson that reads like a thriller.......2002-08-05
Wow. Who would have thought a book on the history of the FDA's handling of tobacco regulation would read like a spy novel? I grabbed this book off the new books shelf at the library, and picked it up expecting to skim through it. Kessler begins with how he was chosen to head the FDA, and introduces several of his staff including the one who started him toward taking on the tobacco industry. Then we get plenty of background including the history, marketing, and laws concerning tobacco.
With all the press on Big Tobacco, I expected them to be shown as fiendish. I've been a member of Americans for Non-Smokers Rights for 20 years, and I've read all about the Industry's dirty tricks, and I fully expected to read about them again here. What I didn't expect to find was the thoroughness in Big Tobacco attempted to discredit the FDA, and Kessler takes us through the political campaigns and counter-campaigns. He shows how Big Tobacco created fake advocacy groups on several issues, leading to their attempt to muzzle the FDA and cut off all their government funding. If you remember the '94 Contract with America and the movement against Big Government, you'll be surprised to find how Big Tobacco co-opted it to fight the FDA, one of the more admired agencies.
If you weren't already cynical about how the US government operates, this book will get you there, even with its descriptions of some of the good guys continually outmaneuvered by the bad ones. Several congress members are shown to be captives of Big Tobacco, doing their dirty work with scripts written by their lobbyists and lawyers.
And speaking of lawyers, one of the most amazing revelations to me ok is how the tobacco industry became captives of their law firms! Yes, instead of working for their clients, the law firms ended up calling all the shots, and the CEOs would read statements prepared by them. The book covers how this came to be.
If you love looking of source material, you'll be busy. Kessler leaves plenty of footnotes in this meaty book for your review. My only complaint is that the book jumps around in places, as the story moves forward or back depending on the topic being covered. But this is a small beef, as the material is so compelling. Find out not only how cigarette's nicotine content was manipulated but how the industry tried to hide this obvious fact from FDA visitors to their manufacturing facilities. Enjoy the victories and despair over the setbacks; this is a policy-wonk's book as written by a Tom Clancy wanna-be.
A Govenment Policy Thriller.......2002-06-24
This is an excellent book. Kessler's story reads like a thriller, but is non-fiction. In addition to the fascinating narrative, Kessler provides along the way many insights into how Washington REALLY works. The most disheartening thing about the book is the extent to which Kessler documents how our political culture is awash with tobacco money; the tentacles of the tobacco companies seemingly reach everywhere. Kessler reveals that many "think tanks" and other public policy mouthpieces--even senators--have been bought by big tobacco and are literally reading from scripts the companies have provided trying to shift tobacco issues into ideological issues involving freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, the tobacco companies usually win with such strategies. Kessler is quite non-partisan in his approach to his topic, so politicians are judged purely by their stance on tobacco. Clinton comes out as wishy-washy, Gore as rock solid, while Dennis Hastert, Newt Gingrich and assorted others come out as shills for big tobacco. A very enlightening and enjoyable book; it will make you yearn for true campaign finance reform.
Average customer rating:
- You Should Have an Intent to Buy This Book
- Very Enjoyable!
- Deadly Disscontent or disconect
- Good romance, interesting characters
- A page turner
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Deadly Intent
Christiane Heggan
Manufacturer: Mira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Suspense
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Heggan, Christiane
| ( H )
| Authors, A-Z
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Romance
| Subjects
| Books
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Blind Faith
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Deception
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Scent Of A Killer (Mira)
ASIN: 1551666480 |
Book Description
Someone from her past had retuned with deadly intent.
Abbie DiAngelo finally has the life she's always wanted. She has gotten past her divorce and cherishes her eight-year old son, Ben. Her restaurant is making money and she is being heralded as the hot new chef.
Then her stepbrother reenters her life. Straight out of prison, Ian MacGregor shows up at Abbie's door claiming to have proof that implicates her mother in a twenty-five-year-old murder. Proof Ian will keep to himself . . . if Abbie pays for his silence. But when she arrives to pay Ian off, she finds his murdered body.
Homicide detective John Ryan quickly realizes there is more to the murder of ex-con Ian MacGregor than he originally thought. And no one, especially Abbie, is telling him the truth. But Abbie has no choice -- she must trust him. Because someone desperate is acting with deadly intent.
Customer Reviews:
You Should Have an Intent to Buy This Book.......2003-09-24
Ian McGregor is at the bottom of the human race and while in prison sees his ex step sister Abbie Di Angelo on television who he hasn't seen for most of his life and decides he will con her and blackmail her into giving him $100 000 dollars. He and Earl Kramer a death row inmate develop the plan and when Ian is released from prison he pays his step sister a visit. Giving into the blackmail for her mother's sake, instead of Ian at the drop off point for the money she finds Artura Garcia with a knife and only narrowly escapes death. She does not know who he is but he wants money that Ian owes him and he will stop at nothing to get it. Ian is dead and John Ryan is investigating his death and takes a very close interest in Abbie.
This is a pretty good book although a bit predictable at the end as the criminal mastermind is very easy to work out. Still you are captured by the novel's high quality to want to know what happens at the end. The characters are very well developed and you definitely want to know what they are going to do next.
Very Enjoyable!.......2003-07-28
Pretty enjoyable romantic suspense from start to finish. Very good story with very good characters that moved at a pretty fast pace. Shocking villain. I really didn't see that coming. Enjoy!
Deadly Disscontent or disconect.......2003-07-04
Christine Heggan poses the self aware restranteur Abbie Di Angelo against her sociopathic half brother, and later a thick headed strongman drug-dealing Arturo Garcia. First off, the story holds promise and I'm convinced that Ms. Heggan can weave a pot together. Bad guy number one really made me mad! I actually found myself steaming. Abbie Di Angelo made me angry for a different reason. I just wasn't buying the victimization of the seemly self-aware person. How could anyone this smart, and with such great people skills be this much of a doormat? I didn't put the book down at that point. I bought the romance and her devotion to Rose, the first bad guy's ex-wife. Nice touch. I related well with Rose's circumstances. I put the book down when Abbie was too dumb to call the police at her second Garcia sighting. The first sighting would have put, even the most stable person in the therapist's chair...
Good romance, interesting characters.......2003-06-08
The book was a fast read. The characters were the most interesting part. The woman is a chef and the man the lead detective. Both come to the relationship with plenty of baggage and a kid. The suspense left a little to be desired but all in all it was good and I DO recommend it.
A page turner.......2003-03-11
This book was anything but bland as one reader put it....I read 2-3 books a week and this is the best one I've read this year so far. Abbie DiAngelo is visited by her step-brother soon after his release from prison because he saw her in the news as a top chef and restaurant owner. He thinks she's his ticket to some serious money after he schemes with another inmate to blackmail her. I give nothing away here (as it's also in the back cover of the book), her brother is killed before she delivers the money he wants. Detective John Ryan, finds she's not telling the truth but is seriously smitten with her. You would think that after the step-brother dies her problems are over, but they are just beginning as there is another man out there wanting the money she was going to give her brother because "if he was going to give it to her brother, she has it and can give it to him....." A great story. Another Christiane Heggan favorite is Betrayals. If you haven't read that one, you're missing out....
Customer Reviews:
not that good.......2006-11-02
I thought this book was going to be great, like the first one. I was very disapointed with it. The plot is VERY confusing. It takes twists and turns all over the place. I found myself not wanting to read it. Even though it sounds great, it isn't.
A terrific! book to read.......2000-07-22
I think this is a great book and should be read by every mystery fan. When the rock star was found missing before the concert, Roger told Nancy that he wouldn't leave before this concert because he been waiting for it for a long time. Nancy went right on the case and the next thing she knew she was being knocked out! My favorite part was near the end when Nancy figured out where Bess, and Bart?, were being held. Of course if you want to find out where YOU'RE going to have to read the book.
It will make you think twice about the music industry........1999-10-09
This Nancy Drew case was a trip to New York to see a rock group,Bent Fender, live in concert. On this trip Nancy takes along George, Bess and Alan (Alan is Bess boyfriend) all four are BIG fans. Some of them are more than others. Just before the gang gets to see Bent Fender perform the groups lead guitarist Barton disappears. The strangest thing is the whole reason the group is performing is because of the fundraiser Barton put together. Why would he disappear just before a charity he put together? Was it a set up? Theres only one way to find out, read this book. You will learn so many new things about the music business that you never knew before. I learned that stardom will make anyone go crazy and it will change them. I also now know that pirating is a major crime that any recording artist can commit (and eventually get caught). On the other hand I also picked up that musicians have just as hard a life as any ordinary person. It's tough being famous. At times I think they have more problems then the people I know do. It is a good book about musicians and friendships.
Nancy has another case on her hands!.......1998-06-18
When Nancy gets backstage tickets for her and her friends to meet Bent Fender, she's delighted. But minutes before the concert the lead guitarist, Barton Novak, goes missing. Now Nancy's trying to find him. She's still trying to patch things up with Ned after her last case, and her father may be involved with a suspect. Things get more serious when Bess disappears, and Nancy suspects Alan, Bess's boyfriend, of being involved with the kidnappers. Nancy's been warned to stay off the case, but she's going to find Bess and Barton, no matter what. Another classic Nancy Drew!
Average customer rating:
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Deadly Intent
Manufacturer: Mira Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 073943165X |
Average customer rating:
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Deadly Intent
Jonni Rich
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1413769861 |
Book Description
Steamy Southern nights. A mansion harboring secrets. A murderer nurturing a secret vendetta turns Ember Ryan's return home into a nightmare. This ruthless killer has claimed two victims. Will Ember be next? A ghost in the hulking mansion appears to Ember and warns her of evil to come. Confused, Ember turns to Russ Paxton, her childhood sweetheart. Is Russ who he appears to be, a helpful, caring friend, or is he someone much, much darker?
Average customer rating:
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Deadly Intent
Anne Rowe
Manufacturer: M S Mill Co Inc, NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O6E04M |
Average customer rating:
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DEADLY INTENT Case 2
Manufacturer: Archway Paperback
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I1OHPA |
Average customer rating:
- Easy learning templars - it's all right here.
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The Last Crusaders (Deadlands: Hell on Earth)
Shane Lacy Hensley
Manufacturer: Pinnacle Entertainment Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Henslely, Shane | ( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
jp-unknown3 | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 188954647X |
Customer Reviews:
Easy learning templars - it's all right here........2000-03-04
I enjoyed this book immensely. It is very easy to get involved in the story/information presented. After reading this book, I had no doubt that I wanted to play a Templar in this roleplaying game.
Average customer rating:
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Batman Hellboy Starman Books 1 & 2 (Parts One and Two)
James Robinson
Manufacturer: DC Comics Dark Horse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic
General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
Dark Horse | Publishers | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
DC Comics | Publishers | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
Batman | Characters | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
Hellboy | Characters | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
Batman | Media | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000TSK90E |
Product Description
This is the two part Batman, Hellboy Starman story put together by both DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics. Includes both Books One and Two. January and February of 1999.
Average customer rating:
- An inspiring story of one man's search for justice
- The True Story of How The Corrupt Lid Got Blown Off The NYPD
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Crusader: The Hell-Raising Police Career of Detective David Durk
James Lardner
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0394576489
Release Date: 1996-04-02 |
Amazon.com
When David Durk joined the New York City Police Department in 1963, he found an organization with its own set of rules, where bribery and payoffs were routine and no one wanted to be disturbed. Durk set out to fix the whole mess. For 22 years, until he was forced to retire at age 51, he was a thorn in the side of mayors, police commissioners, commanders, sergeants, and beat cops alike. His crusading led to an investigation into police corruption in the 1970s by the Knapp Commission (credit for which usually goes to Frank Serpico) and more recently, the Mollen Commission.
Book Description
As soon as he joined the force, David Durk discovered the New York City Police Department rife with corruption--from routine gambling payoffs to cops dealing drugs. Along with Frank Serpico, he devised and executed a plan to blow the whistle and rid the department of the bad cops, sacrificing his career and financial security.
Customer Reviews:
An inspiring story of one man's search for justice.......1999-10-22
David Durk is a crusader in the best and worse sense of the word. He relentlessly fought for justice, despite the apathy and corruption of the New York City Police Department. For his noble efforts, he was rewarded with a partial pension, a long list of powerful enemies and an exile in upstate New York. It is a travesty that someone who devotes his life to helping people would receieve such horrible treatment himself. This book made me angry and sad but also hopeful that someone like David Durk exists to fight the system. I hope one day he wins out.
The True Story of How The Corrupt Lid Got Blown Off The NYPD.......1999-05-18
David Durk did not fit in the NYPD of the sixties and seventies from the start. A tall, wiry, Jewish college graduate-- it never quite seemed that Durk was going to be a typical cop; and he wasn't. Durk was to be a true Crusader, along with his acolyte and friend, Patrolman Frank Serpico, Durk the Idealist would go on to expose the massive amounts of corruption that lay undisturbed, rife within the NYPD. Durk's obsessive love of the truth and his equally obsessive love of policing led these dramatic changes. The NYPD is less corrupt today than it was thirty years ago, and we have David Durk to thank for that. This book retells, in startling detail, the methods which Durk employed to achieve his goal; to rid the NYPD of corruption.
Customer Reviews:
Series Loses Steam, But Still Entertains.......2006-08-01
After the far superior "Heroes in Hell" and "Rebels in Hell," this third entry is a let-down, but still features a few good stories, especially one by Gregory Benford. Overall, the long-term narrative loses its way, and the discreet stories vary from very good to so-so. Read this if you've read the series' predecessors, but it's not tragic if you miss it; readers languish in limbo as much as the characters here. Morris needed to impose more of a narrative through-line, as Philip Jose Farmer did in his similar "Riverworld" novels. The work suffers from lack of plot advancement and focus.
Books:
- A Time to Hate (Star Trek The Next Generation)
- Apples of Gold: A Six-Week Nurturing Program for Women
- Art in Chicago: 1945-1995
- Art.Rage.Us.: Art and Writing by Women with Breast Cancer
- Beautiful Bauer: A Pictorial Study with Prices
- Beware of the Purple Peanut Butter (Give Yourself Goosebumps, No 6)
- Billy Straight: A Novel
- Blows and Bombs: Antonin Artaud, the Biography
- Bon voyage! Level 3 Student Edition (Glencoe French)
- Breaking into the Art World: How to Start Making a Living As an Artist
Books Index
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