Praise for The Art of Political Murder
Winner of the Index on Censorship TR Fyvel Book AwardWinner of the WOLA-Duke Human Rights Book Award
“The Art of Political Murder is journalism by genre; a searing, gripping account of the 1998 murder of Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera and the winding, perilous investigation that followed it. Yet like Goldman’s earlier novels, this book engraves itself in a reader’s memory not only for the story it tells—riveting, horrific, and oddly inspiring—but also for its nuanced portrayal of a society where violence, fear, and moral corrosion have long outlived the conflict that once sustained them … an extraordinarily compelling read. Painstakingly, and at no small personal risk, Goldman spent nearly eight years tracking down nearly all of the crime’s key players and untangling thousands of strands of contradictory evidence. Yet he has distilled this tangled mass of information to its dramatic essence, sustaining the suspense of a crime novel in order to compel his readers to understand the complexities of Guatemala’s violent peace.”
—Brodwyn Fischer, Chicago Tribune
“Both a horrifying exposé and a triumphant tale of justice … [Goldman] employs a blend of literary prose and factual reportage to keep readers engrossed in a complex tale involving dozens of characters, a thicket of deception and constantly shifting versions of events. He zooms in like a detective on tiny forensic details, scrutinizing casual comments and wisps of evidence until they begin to make sense…. The Art of Political Murder is a passionate cry of outrage that should be read and passed on by anyone who believes, as Goldman proves here, that truth is always more improbable than fiction.”
—Pamela Constable, Washington Post
“This is an impressive book. Goldman has focused his superb novelist’s talents—compassion, precision, muscularity, great thoroughness and an instinct for the exotic—on modern-day Guatemala’s ineradicable crime against itself. This remarkable book would seem not to remind us of ourselves, yet somehow it does.”
—Richard Ford
“Goldman spools out clues to the murder like a crime writer, uncovering a terrifying conspiracy that implicates powerful figures in the military, the government, and the media.”
—New Yorker
“[Goldman] provides not only a measured and compelling account of the murder, its investigation and aftermath, but also a rich and detailed portrait of the country where it happened…. He marshals a phenomenal amount of information—names, dates, acronyms, conflicting accounts of uncertain events—without ever becoming either boring or confusing … [and] chronicles the many potentially bewildering changes of personnel, life histories, friendships and fallings-out that have a bearing on his story.”
—Thomas Jones, London Review of Books
“An impressive achievement in investigative reporting … The Art of Political Murder is witness to the struggle of a small, courageous group of activists to bring the processes of a democratic judicial system to bear on one of the most corrupt and violent modern cultures in the Western hemisphere…. Goldman’s book is, in large part, [the Untouchables’] story. The tension and suspense are brutally real and the resolution far from certain. The Art of Political Murder is history with a fast pulse and a wary eye.”
—Katherine Dunn, The Oregonian
“A powerful detective story with a labyrinthine plot … Goldman brilliantly reconstructs both the story of how the bishop was killed and the murderous history of military violence that he courageously opposed.”
—Aryeh Neier, New York Review of Books
“Francisco Goldman’s carefully documented book is more than just an absorbing whodunit about the shocking assassination of a charismatic cleric … It also provides an invaluable case study of how difficult it is to achieve justice and reconciliation in societies emerging from atrocity-tainted civil strife … gripping and masterfully written.”
—Joseph A. Page, Miami Herald
“Passionate and stunningly researched … [Goldman] is after more than a crime. His book portrays the hysterical confusion, the dark fog that power—corrupt, ruthless and enduring—can impose on a society, choking its instincts, blinding its sight and rendering truth not only hard to find but hard to distinguish even if it is found.”
—Richard Eder, New York Times
“Some stories are inscribed deep in the pith of the world, awaiting only the coming of their chosen teller to set them forth. Such is the tale of Bishop Juan Gerardi, the beloved chistoso—or joker—who plumbed the depths of Guatemala’s genocidal darkness and found himself finally engulfed by it. Gerardi’s fate was to serve as the bringer of terrible truths and now he has been succeeded in that sacred role by novelist Francisco Goldman, who offers an unforgettable portrait—not only of one society corrupted to its heart by fear, lies, and terror but of the insinuating, terrifying ways of power itself. In The Art of Political Murder, Goldman has written his greatest novel—except that every word on these pages happens to be true. This is an essential book.”
—Mark Danner
“The Art of Political Murder is both a page-turner and a searing indictment of a corrosive brand of politics that has overwhelmed a nation…. In these dark times, Goldman offers a rare gift: a reason for hope, a story about the limits of impunity, an improbable and inspiring case study of success.”
—Daniel Alarcón, San Francisco Chronicle
“With his novels, Francisco Goldman has already made extraordinary contributions to modern literature. Now, he has written a compelling and important piece of investigative journalism. Like all of Goldman’s writings, The Art of Political Murder is a work of unique moral acuity and masterful storytelling; but he has done much more than weave us a fine tale. This is a real-life whodunit, a murder conspiracy which lays bare the poisonous heart of politics and power in contemporary Guatemala. In the story of the murder of Bishop Gerardi, Goldman is not only our writer, but our trustworthy detective.”
—Jon Lee Anderson
“A grimly satisfying, finely honed detective story … Goldman takes us deeper than any book has ever gone into the criminal pathologies of contemporary Latin America, with its mara gangs, prison riots, drug networks, and political putrefaction … [recounting] the murder as coolly as a coroner.”
—Roger Atwood, Boston Globe
“Gripping … A tour de force, not just for [Goldman’s] reportorial tenacity … but because his novelist’s eye and his deep understanding of Guatemalan society take you places no other reporter could: inside the death squads; inside the world of political assassination; inside the gangs and prisons; and out among the legions of psychotic, traumatized, unbalanced, underemployed veterans who are the perpetrators of so much of Guatemala’s crime.”
—Peter Canby, The Nation
“Francisco Goldman reports—with passion, acuity, and dogged courage—from deep within ODHA’s eight-year campaign for justice in the Gerardi case.”
—Bookforum
“An impeccably researched account of the Gerardi case that reads like a thriller … as enthralling as it is filled with terror.”
—Carlos Rodríquez Martorell, New York Daily News
“A thriller that crashes through barriers of genre … Reading the book is to enter a surreal, and very dark labyrinth, a three-hundred page ride of relentless fear … [Goldman’s] book is at once awe-inspiring and disheartening: He has perfected the art of nonfiction by explaining how Guatemala has perfected the art of political murder.”
—Silvana Paternostro, BOMB
“Drawing on a wealth of sources, including