A Train of Powder
Rebecca West
309 pages, Paperback
ISBN: 1566633192
ISBN13:
Language: English
Publish: August 21, 2000
ClassicsEssaysGermanyHistoryHolocaustJournalismNonfictionTrue CrimeWarWorld War II
Like most all of Rebecca West’s reportage, A Train of Powder approaches great literature. Written between 1946 and 1954, these accounts of four controversial trials explore the nature of crime and punishment, innocence and guilt, retribution and forgiveness. The centerpiece of the book is “Greenhouse with Cyclamens,” a three-part essay on the Nuremberg trials written with precision, clarity, and daring insight. She also reports on two particularly brutal murder trials – one for a lynching in North Carolina, the other for a “torso murder” in England – and the espionage trial of a British telegrapher.
Throughout, the question of guilt inspires Ms. West to feats of psychological detection wherein unerring craftsmanship and a powerful narrative sense combine to a high purpose – the pursuit of truth.