(Subdue) The Algiers Motel Incident by John Hersey – 3 Stars

[Hannah]

This was a book I wanted to like more than I actually did. I found the topic and the characters really interesting, but I found the style of the writing to be difficult to follow. Reading the introduction to my copy showed me just how quickly the is book was published after the events it is about – six weeks from receiving the first draft to publication – and it is clear that this book would have benefitted from more editing. By drawing on interviews, police reports and court testimony to investigate what happened on the evening of 25th July 1967, Hersey writes a confusing and at times chaotic narrative, probably mirroring the incident and the people’s understanding shortly afterwards, but with lots of unhelpful repetition. One thing that I found particularly disturbing about Hersey’s book is that so many of these things – racism, police brutality, an unfair criminal justice system – have not changed in the years since the book was published in 1968.