Rare Book Monthly
A Death in Texas by Dina Temple-Raston: Not all Books are Equal
Four lives lost.
Six years later and 1,500 miles away I mentioned to a bus driver my understanding of what had happened in Jasper, Texas in 1998 and 1999. From the row behind, an older man interjected. "That ain't how I heard it." I said nothing but have been left to wonder what talk radio station he's been listening to because he certainly didn't get his version from this book. So as I said at the beginning of this article, with respect to race we too often start with our conclusions and choose the facts that support our case. It doesn't make it right, only dangerous.
Finally I need to note that an allegation has been made that Ms. Temple-Raston appropriated the words of others, without attribution, in a few places. I think she picked up some language from newspaper accounts and too closely laid the words down in her text. But this is her book and no one else's and it is very well done. Her language is too unique for it to be otherwise.
This is an exceptionally easy book to read. The eyes complete the sentences before the meanings reach the brain. I recommend it but don't expect it to last long. Three hundred and three pages might sound like a good chunk but this is one of those books that ends too soon. For those who want to follow this story all the way to its end the State of Texas Department of Criminal Justice provides a website with the status of those on death row: Lawrence Russell Brewer and John William King [Bill]
It was first printed in 2002 and is available in paperback online and in bookstores.
2 April 2005 Gallup, New Mexico. It has been reported that Fauso Arellano, 32, a local resident was attacked yesterday in a way eerily similar to the Jasper, Texas attack in 1998. At approximately 4:00 am on the morning of April 1st, Mr. Arellano was tied to a car, dragged a mile and then left for dead in the middle of a busy city intersection. John P. Talamante was arrested soon after. Local officials are stressing their belief that this crime occured as the outcome of a drug dispute and are downplaying it as a hate crime.
