A Death in Belmont

Title: A Death in Belmont

Author: Sebastian Junger

Pages: 266

Genre: Non-fiction, Thriller

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The crux of the book takes place in and around Boston in 1963. The city was terrorized by the Boston Strangler who ended up raping and strangling 12-13 women as they were alone in their homes. The murder of Bessie Goldberg occurred in the same neighborhood that the author lived in. A black man (Roy Smith) was convicted of the crime and sent to prison. Two years after this murder, Albert DeSalvo, a handyman, confessed to being the Boston strangler. Incidentally, DeSalvo worked on a project at the author's home during this same time period and was often at working at his home alone with his mother. This book examines the issue that race played in Smith's conviction and outlines a few of the racial atrocities that were occurring throughout the United States during the era.

My Review: I liked this book. It was very similar to In Cold Blood, where the author uses witness statements, court documents and interviews with the people involved to tell the tale. There were a few parts of the book that were a little disturbing, including descriptions of the murders and of a few civil rights atrocities. This book made me grateful that I was born when I was and that I didn't have to be exposed to the types of disgusting stigmas and restrictions that the ruling white men placed upon African Americans. The biggest downside of the book is that the ending is a little disappointing (but this is obviously not the fault of the author). There is no definitive answer on who killed Bessie Goldberg or whether or not DeSalvo really was the Boston Strangler as he claimed (I believe that he was).

From the Book (Both quotes have been taken from the Afterward): "(p.245) The story about Bessie Goldberg that I heard from my parents was that a nice old lady had been killed down the street and an innocent black man went to prison for the crime. Meanwhile--unknown to anyone--a violent psychopath named Al was working alone at our house all day and probably committed the murder. In our family this story eventually acquired the tidy symbolism of a folk tale. Roy Smith was a stand-in for everything that was decent but utterly defenseless. Albert DeSalvo, of course, was a stand-in for pure random evil."

"(p. 254) The state's case against Smith, however, did claim to speak to his actual guilt or innocence, and it has to be considered carefully. The reason this is important has nothing to do with Roy Smith or Bessie Goldberg or even Al DeSalvo; they're all dead. In some ways there is nothing less relevant than an old murder case. The reason it is important is this: Here is a group of people who have gathered to judge--and possibly execute--a fellow citizen. It's the highest calling there is, the very thing that separates us from social anarchy, and it has to be done well. A trial, however, is just a microcosm of the entire political system. When a democratic government decides to raise taxes or wage war or write child safety laws, it is essentially saying to an enormous jury, "This is our theory of how the world works, and this is our proposal for dealing with it. If our theory makes sense to you, vote for us in the next election. If it doesn't, throw us out." The ability of citizens to scrutinize the theories insisted on by their government is their only protection against abuse of power and, ultimately, against tyranny. If ordinary citizens can't coolly and rationally evaluate a prosecutor's summation in a criminal trial, they won't have a chance at calling to task a deceitful government. And all governments are deceitful--they're deceitful because it's easier than being honest. Most of the time, it's no more sinister than that."