An Act of State

出版者:Verso

作者:William F. Pepper

页数:320

出版时间:2003-01-17

价格:USD 25.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9781859846957

具体描述

On the evening of April 4 1968, Martin Luther King was in Memphis supporting a workers' strike. By the end of the day, top-level army snipers were in the position to knock him out if ordered. Two military officers were in place on the roof of a fire station near the Lorraine Motel, to photograph the events. Two black firemen had been ordered not to report to duty that day and a black Memphis Police Department detective on surveillance duty in the fire station was physically removed from his post and taken home. Dr King's room at the motel was changed from a secluded ground-floor room to number 306 on the balcony. Lloyd Jowers, owner of Jim's Grill which backed on to the motel from the other side of the street, had already received $100,000 in cash for his agreement to participate in the assassination. He was to go out into the brush area behind the grill with the shooter and take possession of the gun immediately after the fatal shot was fired. When the dust settled, King had been hit, and a clean-up procedure was immediately set in motion. James Earl Ray was effectively framed, the snipers dispersed, any witness who could not be controlled were killed, and the crime scene was destroyed. William pepper, attorney and friend of Dr King and the King family, became convinced after years of investigation that not only was Ray not the shooter, but that King had been targeted as part of a larger conspiracy to stop the anti-war movement, and to prevent King from gaining momentum in his promising Poor People's campaign. Ten years into his investigation, in 1988, Pepper agreed to represent Ray. While he was never able to successfully appeal the sentence before Ray's death, he was bale to build an air-tight case against the real perpetrators. In 1999, Lloyd Jowers and co-conspirators were brought to trial in a wrongful death civil action suit on behalf of the King family. Seventy witnesses set out the details of a conspiracy in a plot to murder King that involved J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Richard Helms and the CIA, the military, the local Memphis police, and organized crime figures from New Orleans and Memphis. The evidence was unimpeachable. The jury took an hour to find for the. But the silence following these shocking revelations was deafening. Like the pattern during all the investigations of the assassination throughout the years, no major media outlet would cover the story. It was effectively buried. Until now, the details, evidence, and personalities of all these nefarious characters have gone unreported. In An Act of State, you finally have the truth before you - how the United States government effectively shut down one of the most galvanising movements for social change by stopping its leader dead in his tracks.

用户评价

坦白讲，这本书的社会观察角度犀利得让人脊背发凉。它不是那种直白地控诉或说教的作品，而是像一面高倍显微镜，聚焦于社会结构中那些微小却致命的裂缝。作者似乎对人性的幽暗角落有着近乎本能的洞察力，笔下的人物并非简单的善恶标签，而是被时代洪流和环境压力塑造成型的复杂体。读到某些段落时，我感觉自己仿佛被强行拉进了一个镜厅，看到了社会运行规则下，个体是如何在看似坚固的秩序面前显得如此脆弱和无助。这种对权力运作、社会潜规则的解剖，既有宏观的冷峻分析，又不乏微观的细腻捕捉。它迫使我跳出自己日常生活的舒适区，去审视那些被我们习惯性忽略的、却又真实存在的结构性不公。更令人赞叹的是，作者在揭示这些问题的同时，始终保持着一种冷静的克制，没有陷入情绪化的泥潭，而是用冷静的笔触，将冰冷的事实摆在读者面前，让读者自己去感受和判断。这本书读完之后，那种挥之不去的“后劲”，正是源于它对现实世界肌理的深刻洞察与还原。它更像是一份对我们所处时代的深度田野调查报告，只是披上了一层引人入胜的小说外衣。

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从文学性的角度来看，这部小说的文字质感非常独特，它有一种沉静而古老的韵味，仿佛每一页都带着历史的尘埃和陈旧羊皮纸的气味。叙事语言的密度极高，仿佛每一个词语都被精心挑选过，确保其携带的最大信息量和美学价值。与那些追求现代快节奏的叙事风格不同，这本书采用了更偏向于古典文学的句法结构，这使得阅读过程需要一种缓慢而专注的姿态，但这恰恰是其魅力所在。它营造了一种近乎冥想的状态，让你与文字产生一种深层的共振。我尤其欣赏作者在描述环境景物时，那种如同油画般厚重而富有层次感的笔触，寥寥数语就能构建出一个氛围浓郁、令人难忘的场景。这种对语言本身力量的回归和尊重，在当代文学中是相当难得的。它不追求表面的华丽，而是追求内在的浑厚与深邃，像陈年的佳酿，需要时间去细品，才能体会到其复杂而悠长的回甘。这是一本值得收藏，并反复翻阅的作品，每次重读都会有新的体悟。

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这部作品的叙事手法简直是教科书级别的范例，作者对节奏的掌控达到了出神入化的地步。开篇的铺垫，犹如缓缓拉开的帷幕，每一个细微的场景描绘，都像是在精心布置一盘棋局，让你在不知不觉中被卷入故事的漩涡。我特别欣赏作者在处理人物内心冲突时所采用的间接手法，没有冗长的心理解剖，而是通过人物的只言片语、微妙的肢体语言，将他们深层的挣扎和矛盾淋漓尽致地展现出来。阅读过程中，我常常需要停下来，回味某一句对话的深意，或者重新审视前文某个看似不经意的细节，因为正是这些碎片，最终汇集成了一幅宏大而复杂的图景。这种需要读者主动参与建构意义的写作方式，极大地增强了阅读的沉浸感和满足感。特别是当情节发展到高潮时，那种层层递进的紧张感，让人几乎屏住呼吸，生怕错过任何一个转折点。不得不说，作者的文字功底深厚，遣词造句精准而富有张力，即便是描写最平淡的日常，也能从中读出一种潜藏的张力。对于那些追求精妙结构和高超叙事技巧的读者来说，这本书无疑是一场盛宴。它不仅是在讲述一个故事，更是在展示一种叙事艺术的极致追求。