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Mar 21, 2008

david-baptiste rated it:

This is novelist Francisco Goldman's true crime investigation report of his seven years of interviewing and researching the ever stranger labyrinths at whose center is the murder in 1998 of Guatemalan Human Rights Activist Bishop Juan Gerardi, by bludgeoning, in the garage of his Parish. This comes two days after the Bishop and a group of young secular and Church people called The Untouchables formed by the Church has revealed at a press conference the first two volumes of a four volume report More...

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Jul 28, 2008

Kathy rated it:

I have really admired this author ever since I read his first novel, The Long Night of the White Chicken. He writes compassionately and intelligently about Guatemala, his mother's homeland, but always with a tremendous sense of the injustice and abuse that has visited that country for far too many years. This book investigates the 1998 murder of one of Guatemala's prominent Catholic bishops, a human rights defender, directly after a report documenting the abuses of the past two decades was pu More...

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Sep 12, 2011

Vince rated it:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/20...

This review originally appeared in the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop?
Vince Darcangelo, Special to the Rocky

Published September 28, 2007 at midnight

• Nonfiction. By Francisco Goldman. Grove, $25. Grade: A

Book in a nutshell: Guatemala. 1998. Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, an outspoken critic of the government's history of human rights abuses, is beat More...

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Jun 12, 2011

Amber rated it:

I was really conflicted about this book. The best way to describe it is that it's a screed, albeit an interesting and educational one. A Guatemalan bishop is murdered days after the Catholic Church's report (which he was a primary author of) on Guatemalan military murders was released. This book follows the Church's lawyers as they, in concert with the state attorneys, prosecute several military officers along with another priest.

Reading reviews after the fact, this book is apparently a respons More...

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Feb 23, 2011

Lindsey rated it:

The exploration of the crime, the investigation and the trial were really interesting, but the last part, describing all of the appellate processes was less interesting. It really is depressing to think of all of the times the US government has supported dictatorships and nearly genocidal regimes only in order to oppose Communism. The crimes that have been committed in the name of protecting the free world are so atrocious when they are viewed in the lens of what was really threatening freedom More...

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Aug 10, 2009

Mateo rated it:

There is much I can say about this book, but the bottom line is: buy this book and read it. Repeat: buy this book and read it.

The Art of Political Murder is as taut and scary as the best murder thriller-whodunit, and it's all real. It recounts the April, 1998 bludgeoning of Bishop Juan Gerardi at his home in Guatemala City, and the subsequent efforts to find the killers and bring them to justice. But this is not a simple episode of Law and Order; it's a full-bore examination of More...

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Nov 28, 2010

cscb rated it:

one of my top five books. this is such an enveloping story - as good as any fictional mystery, chock full of intrigue and populated with extraordinary characters, but as relevant and as beautifully rendered as any journalism i've read. but more than that, it's the story of a team of sharp, dedicated lawyers and investigators who waded their way through a maelstrom of false leads and threats of violence, took on a deeply-entrenched military kleptocracy and managed to do something unprecedented More...

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

Three-time novelist Francisco Goldman's commitment to telling this true-crime tale shines on every page of The Art of Political Murder. Goldman spent years researching the case, often braving dangerous places and people in order to interview key witnesses. Many of the people he spoke with for the book ended up dead, in exile, or "disappeared." With the exception of the Los Angeles Times, critics uniformly praised Goldman's insightful exploration of Guatemalan political corruption and m

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Apr 13, 2011

Michael rated it:

Thoroughly researched and insightful, this is, by far, the best book that I have read on contemporary Guatemala. Beyond the analysis of the case itself, it is a window into the structures of corruption, deception and power that continue to hold the country hostage to this day.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of reading this account is, for me, walking the streets of Guatemala and seeing some of the most powerful characters represented as leading candidates for the upcoming electio More...

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Jun 09, 2009

Ron rated it:

The blurb on the front speaks of this book as ultimately hopeful, but I found its story of the murder and cover up of a Guatemalan bishop to be depressing and pathetic. It portrays Guatemala as a seemingly bottomless pit of corruption, violence and chaos, incapabable of changing itself, and only worsened by American and other western "assistance." Scary that this place is so geographically close to the US, if even half the stories in this book are true. Its laso very hard to follow, More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Jessica rated it:

This is an excellent book. Francisco Goldman is a beautiful writer and he somehow navigates the lives of many characters and the complicated intertwined interests of the case of Bishop Gerardi's murder, introducing unfamiliar readers to the vast and complex relationships between military, church and state in Guatemala. I learned a lot about Guatemala's recent history through this book, and gained a basic grasp of the interests at stake in the investigation of a case like this one.

I w More...

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Mar 13, 2010

Aeren rated it:

Having visited Guatemala some six times since 2000. I was intrigued by this book because my old pastor at East Liberty Presbyterian Church met Bishop Girardi in Guatemala the week before his assassination.

Goldman's research is well documented and a wonderful read. If you love murder mysteries, this is a real life one. Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, a Roman Catholic human rights advocate. On the night after the release of a report on the abuses of the military in the 36-year-old civil w More...

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Dec 29, 2011

KC rated it:

This book is the best political thriller (of book length) I've ever read, a true story that puts the novelists to shame. Although the prose sometimes drags a little and the cascade of names and conflicting stories can be bewildering, the author leads the reader down the rabbit hole into a Guatemalan world of murder, sex, power, and conspiracy. The cast of characters is unforgettable, from the menacing Limas to the erratic Father Mario to the crusading Helen Mack, but the real star of the story i More...

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Mar 11, 2009

Scott rated it:

This would have been an amazing book if it was about half or three-quarters as long. If you have a desperate need to know all the ins and outs of Bishop Gerardi's murder, then this is the book for you. I'm one who could go with less historiography and more analysis and background, in particular more info on the U.S. and Israel's role in arming and supporting the Guatemalan army. I also would have appreciated a broader focus on others not involved in this particular case and how they were agitat More...

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Jul 17, 2009

Jean-Marie rated it:

Frank Goldman's novel has too thick a plot for some readers, but that is the point: the nature of crime in Guatemala, especially politically-motivated crime, is complicated and opaque. This is why whodunits are more interesting for their descriptions of the intellectual authors of murders rather than the guy who pulled the trigger. And nothing could ring more true when it concerns murder in Guatemala.

The Art of Political Murder is a template for understanding similarly-motivated cr More...

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Jan 06, 2009

Christopher rated it:

I found this book very interesting. It's very investigative with lots of twists and turns. This is definitely a window into the shady fingers of the U.S. government in Central America.
This covers the murder and several year investigation of Bishop Juan Gerardi. Bishop Gerardi was a human rights activist murdered shortly after the release of a report he headed that documented the atrocities committed during Guatemala's thirty year war. A very good read.

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Dec 23, 2011

Rachel rated it:

It's hard for me to review this book apart from my curiosity about Latin American and US Relations. I LOVED the book and so appreciated the sleuth work that went into putting this work of non-fiction together. As a person who's always trying to get the real scoop on Guatemalan politics, this book was invaluable. That said, it straddles the line between a good detective story and a long-winded piece of reporting. But I can appreciate Goldman's zeal as a journalist to deliver the facts.

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Feb 06, 2012

Jacob rated it:

A fairly decent piece of journalism on the murder of renowned Guatemalan Bishop Gerardi back in 1998. The author sometimes gets hung up on minute details which he finds more fascinating than the reader would. Other than that, it's a pretty good read, not just on the murder but on the machinations of a corrupt and seemingly hopeless country.

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Jul 24, 2010

Ali rated it:

This book is fascinating. A political history that reads like a murder mystery. And I learned a lot about Guatemala and its civil war and the role the United States played in it (as in, basically starting a 50 year war in which thousands of people were killed and tortured. Don’t worry, Clinton apologized for it during his presidency.)

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Apr 19, 2008

Sarah rated it:

In an effort to find out more information of the Guatemala of my youth, I read this book that details the extensive history behind the murder of Guatemala City's archbishop in 1998. The bulk of the information came from the guerilla warfare in the early 1980's (when we lived there) that I found heart-breaking and unbelievable. The archbishop was murdered the day after his 1500 page report of that time accusing the GA State Police and its leaders of genocide. Overall, I don't know that anyone More...

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Apr 28, 2009

Jessica rated it:

I wanted this book to be better. It's a great story that the author tells in a really crazy chronological order. It jumps in time and just when you think you're getting to the good testimony, he jumps forward in time to tell you what the person is doing now. It takes you out of the story and makes a fascinating probably political murder of a prominent bishop in Guatemala highly unfortunate and kind of boring.

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Feb 01, 2009

Anne rated it:

I was hooked in the beginning. So scandalous, and even more so because it's not fiction! Very interesting, but near the end it starts to get pretty slow. Still well worth reading, especially if you have an interest in Latin America and/or politics.

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Apr 08, 2011

Ed rated it:

Oscar Romero wasn't the only bishop of the Roman Catholic Church murdered by those most likely working for the entrenched oligarchy in modern Central America. But while Romero was killed while saying Mass in San Salvador, a shocking event that drew headlines around the world, Bishop Juan Gerardi was beaten and left for dead on the floor of his garage. A group of dedicated and courageous young men and women, realizing that the crime would go not only unpunished but would be barely investigated by More...

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Mar 05, 2010

Marcello rated it:

A great example of Detective History, unearthing the roots of violence and human rights violation in Guatemala, which becomes a sort of bloody blueprint of Latin America.

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Dec 06, 2009

Pete rated it:

By the end of Francisco Goldman's book you feel as if he, himself, had officially joined the investigative team of attorneys, forensic specialists, and prosecutors. His access allows the reader personal portraits of many of the key characters and plenty of unguarded insights but one gets the sense that things which may seem obvious to him have not been properly explained to us. That said, this book, filled with an incredible amount of detail, is a fascinating read on the clash between entrenched More...

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Jul 07, 2008

Virginia rated it:

I was very excited to read this book as it came highly recommended and because it centered on a key event in Guatemala, a country that I lived in and which is very dear to my heart. The author gives an exhaustive recounting of Bishop Gerardi's murder and the people involved, and also offers insight into the political dynamics of country that seems to constantly on the cusp of being an institutionalized democracy, but never seems to quite make it there. I was put off a bit by what I perceived a More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Laura rated it:

This is taking longer to read than I'd hoped because of an intense upswing in work-related stuff. What I have read is sometimes confusing, but then, it *is* about a real-life murder and those can be confusing. More as I read on...

****

Ok, finished the book. The writing didn't lend itself to an easy read (too much time taken reintroducing characters and recovering "plot", despite having a dramatis personae in the book). Still, if you want to learn more about a More...

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Apr 29, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

Good partner to Garcia Marquez's News of a Kidnapping. Goldman makes clear that the terror and genocide in Central America are ongoing.

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Dec 30, 2011

Ted rated it:

In addition to the main narrative, this work really gives a lot of insight into the country of Guatemala. At the end of the work, Goldman lists all of his sources and references places to easily find more information about the murder of Bishop Gerardi.

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Oct 31, 2009

Gal rated it:

Interesting but too long with too many details that do not really benefit the story.

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