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Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind (Penguin Us)
by
Bruce Watson
In this groundbreaking narrative of one of Americas 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 worl...more
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
November 25th 2008
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
(first published August 16th 2007)
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In August 1927, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts electrocuted Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for an April 1920 payroll robbery that ended in murder. During the intervening years between their arrests and executions, the two Italian immigrants became a worldwide cause celebre. Public figures like Dr. Felix Frankfurter, who became Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and socialist poet Edna St. Vincent Millay argued that both men, who were active anarchists, were condemned ...more
On April 15, 1920 in the town of Braintree, mass. Just outside of Boston a payroll clerk with a strong box and a guard,were approaching several shoe factories to deliver the weekly payroll. A large car with four or five occupants came along side the pair, who were both murdered and the cash stolen. Months later two Italian immigrants, both of them Anarchists, came up to a garage holding a large car that might have been used in the hold-up and were arrested, tried and convicted. Seven years lat...more
This is a wonderful telling of the Sacco and Vanzetti case that describes the ordeal of these two men and the social factors, both in Massachusetts and the United States as a whole, that led to this gross miscarriage of justice. I found it interesting that there was more support for the two defendants in Europe than in the US. At the time of the trial, 1920, Italians were the newest immigrants in a state that was still reeling from its adjustment to the earlier Irish immigrants. Furthermore, ...more
John Dos Passos astutely wrote that Americans are two people: those capable of contextualizing what they read and hear with their republican values and those hopelessly distracted by base prejudice at the expense of good citizenship. Dos Passos's quote is repeated two or three times in Sacco and Vanzetti and is the base of the book itself.
I find it interesting that one could also say about Bruce Watson's monograph that Sacco and Vanzetti is two books: one that contextualizes the t...more
I find it interesting that one could also say about Bruce Watson's monograph that Sacco and Vanzetti is two books: one that contextualizes the t...more
Even after 80 years, claims Bruce Watson, the prejudice and injustice that sentenced Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti to death "haunt American history." Though he presents no new evidence, Watson uses extensive research to offer a judicious and compelling description of the trial and its far-reaching aftermath. Only the Wall Street Journal, which nevertheless described Watson's narrative as "vivid" and "smoothly written," complained that he distorted or ignored
...more
The story of two men who were not treated well by the Massachusetts court system, it is a cautionary tale. You know how "they" say, "if you're not guilty, you have nothing to be afraid of"? This story shows us that you do, indeed have something to fear: and it is not just fear itself!
The author plays an even hand and shows how the politicization of the trial prevented the men from a just outcome, which would have been a second trial under an impartial judge. One...more
The author plays an even hand and shows how the politicization of the trial prevented the men from a just outcome, which would have been a second trial under an impartial judge. One...more
and a half. I knew nothing of these guys. The account is evenhanded, but it's pretty clear the author believes them innocent. It's really a fascinating piece of history, what with all of the "roaring twenties" atmosphere. There are no real protagonists in this story, just countless flawed human beings caught up in the real world. If I could pick a protagonist, however, I would probably pick Vanzetti. More than anyone else in the book, the reader gets an excellent sense of who he was by...more
Although it to a bit to get through this, because my interests tend to wander, I admire the effort that went into this piece of work. Nearly 27 years ago I wrote a history paper on this particular case and there didn't seem to be more than a vague paragraph or two readily available is easily obtainable print. Even with the abundance of information available now and after finalizing my reading of this book the question still remains unequivocally unanswered in the positive or the negative as to...more
Although nothing new is revealed here, this is an excellent survey of a very complex and confusing legal railroading in 1920s Boston. Like the Haymarket anarchists before them, Sacco & Vanzetti were convicted more for their beliefs and associations than deeds.
The Watson book did make clearer the culpability of Judge Webster Thayer, as opposed to the jury--many of whom seem to have genuinely believed the perplexing ballistics "evidence."
Previously, I had thought th...more
The Watson book did make clearer the culpability of Judge Webster Thayer, as opposed to the jury--many of whom seem to have genuinely believed the perplexing ballistics "evidence."
Previously, I had thought th...more
This book is a dry, riveting account which addresses the impact of the trials of the two men who may well have been bomb throwing anarchists, but probably weren't in the case for which they were tried. Well
detailed and researched and well worth reading.
detailed and researched and well worth reading.
After reading this, my judgment is no longer unsure -- I believe that both of these men were unjustly charged and convicted -- Although they believed in the anarchist cause, they did not do anyone any harm -- a true travesty of justice -- they were innocent.
A friend of mine just retired from the bench in the very courtroom where Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced. I must admit I couldn't believe it was 90 years ago, and thus concluded I had better improve my knowledge of this very sad event.
A book good enough to make me drag out my soapbox. A primer on lessons we still have not learned about unequal justice, immigration, and our willingness to sacrifice civil liberties in the face of fear.
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If you really want to know every single detail of the Sacco and Vanzetti incident which played out over about 10 years, this is the book for you. It was fascinating for a while, then became repetitive so I skipped to the epilogue. Were they guilty? I don't think we'll ever really know.
I finally finished this! I thought this book would be much more entertaining and fast paced than it was because I heard the author on NPR and he seemed really interesting. In fact, I had a really, really hard time getting through this and made myself read it. The legal aspects of the case weren't as interesting or well presented as the social context was. I thought it was really interesting learning about anti-immigrant (especially anti-Italian) sentimentality, the red scare, hyper-Americani...more
The book is well thought out although a bit confusing (which may be more of how I read than how it was presented). The author presents the information as clear as possible through the lens of history and is able to demonstrate that these two men were innocent of the crimes they were executed for. 70+ years after the state-sanctioned murder, I felt my own anger at the result as if I knew the two people. I find it hard to believe that to this day, people are still up in arms when this is mentioned...more
Even though I already knew how the ending would be, this was a very sad story. Even after 84 years since Sacco and Vanzetti were executed, there is still doubt as to their guilt or innocence (no spoilers, actually - read the epilogue carefully).
Watson writes a largely sympathetic account about Sacco and Vanzetti; he includes a history of the anarchist movement in Italy and the US in the 1920s, which was pretty interesting to me. Watson also has some harsh words for the Boston commu...more
Watson writes a largely sympathetic account about Sacco and Vanzetti; he includes a history of the anarchist movement in Italy and the US in the 1920s, which was pretty interesting to me. Watson also has some harsh words for the Boston commu...more
A really good account of the legal aspects of the case and the effect on Sacco and his family in particular.
this is a cracking good read. probably one of the best accounts you'll find, since it somehow turns a stupid long trial into a real pageturner. watson also avoids the guilt/innocence question (which can only be determined by one's own political prejudice, considering the lack of real evidence and proliferation of rumors) but he still makes it clear that this was one of the worst travesties of justice ever carried out in an american court.
"captialist reactionary hyenas"
Kate
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people interested in the law, anarchy, Italian-Americans
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Very complete and easy-to-read history of the Sacco and Vanzetti case. The author details a lot of information about their lives, the crime they were accused of, the politics and anti-immigrant hysteria of their time (sound familiar?), the unfair trial and the worldwide movement to save them. Very good book.
At the very least, Sacco and Vanzetti should have been granted a new trial. Spences Sacco (grandson) stood next to Michael Dukakis in 1977 as Dukasis said "high standards of justice . . . failed Sacco and Vanzetti". See Upton Sinclair's "Boston" and many others.
Well written, very well researched. But a great example of why I don't read pure non-fiction.
Watson's work is top notch but boring as fuck and I immediately retreated to the loving embrace of Orwell to remind myself why I read.
Watson's work is top notch but boring as fuck and I immediately retreated to the loving embrace of Orwell to remind myself why I read.
Bruce Watson draws a vivid image of the milieu in which the murders and trial takes place. It becomes more a comment on human nature than an expose of injustice (or alleged injustice) wrought.
Did they do it? Did they not? Who really gives a fuck? This author is way sensationalist about their anarchism, and I love it. Viva la Galleanisti!
The facts are murky and unproven. Capital punishment can never be undone and should be abolished.
I'm still trying to suss this out.
Got this for xmas.
v. good.
fascinating
fascinating
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Other books on this complex case have read like legal briefs or bitter indictments, but Watson's SACCO AND VANZETTI is the first to take a long and balanced look at the men, their times and the case that tore the world in two. Drawing on untapped legal archives and offering the first full-length narrative of the case in thirty years, Bruce Watson has written the definitive history of Sacco and Van...more
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