Matt Taibbi…properly depicts the Garner killing as a consequence of our society's ills. Its title…seems to imply a narrow focus on the Garner killing, belying the book's prismatic approach to both the people and policies involved in Garner's life and death…I Can't Breathe is a work of deep reporting, as chapter by chapter, Taibbi introduces us to individual players—from Garner's fellow street hustlers in the beleaguered Tompkinsville section of Staten Island to activists who protested the grand jury's refusal to indict Pantaleo (a man whom we also get to know much better, as Taibbi unearths what he can of his past). The story of the Garners' tumultuous and often combative family life is told by people who were there, including Garner's daughter Erica, an activist. In this book, humanization does not equal lionization, and sympathy is never confused for pity. This applies to everyone, in particular the book's principal subject…If readers are unfamiliar with the fatalism and frustration that racial discrimination, poverty and poor policing engender in men like Eric Garner, Taibbi provides an able introduction.
You’re not supposed to do it, but judging a book by its cover is a skill we all employ from time to time; whether we’re standing in a busy Barnes & Noble or squinting at a screen full of thumbnails, a book’s cover is often all you have time to peruse. Sure, in a perfect […]