Dawidoff, who grew up in New Haven and returned to live there in middle age, has written a great American book. But I was 226 pages in, just over halfway, when I realized how great it was shaping up to be. The book takes a long time to go from 0 to 65. It’s bigger than it has to be, and it’s not a model of elegant design; it reminds me of my clunky 2004 minivan, roomy and comfy, with poor steering and iffy brakes, always a little out of control. But then again, I love my minivan.

Linking the ordinary nightmare of Newhallville to the greater national community, Dawidoff shows how Pete’s death, Bobby’s innocence, and Major’s lost potential all act as symbols for contemporary American society..

The text—compassionate, thoughtful, and thorough to a fault—is caught somewhat uncomfortably between a sociological study of the causes and results of racial division and a more straightforward narrative of Bobby's conviction, imprisonment, and bumpy reentry into society.

For all his painstaking journalistic rigor, the resulting book is hardly academic or tedious. Dawidoff puts the reader at the scene with vivid prose and attention to detail. Not unlike Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, this is a book as gripping and fast-paced as a bestselling fictional mystery.

Dawidoff stuffs the account with statistics on violent crime, digressions into the Great Migration and the history of New Haven, deep dives into street culture and police interview techniques, and intricate biographical sketches. Though meandering at times, it’s a searing portrait of injustice in America..