A review by larryerick
I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street by Matt Taibbi

5.0

I think it's only fair that I begin this review by saying I started reading an earlier book from this author, only to promptly find it shrill with hyperbole, prompting me to cease quickly. Regardless, the subject and reputation of this book allowed me to try again with this work. I am very glad I did. This is an outstanding work. As the title implies, the book centers on the subject of the "I Can't Breathe" media phenomenon, Michael Garner, in New York City. Very early on in my reading, I noted much in common in this book with two of the best books I have ever read -- period -- but especially on contemporary American life for its black population: Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow and Matthew Desmond's Evicted. This book drives down to the micro level on much of what is expounded in Alexander's work, while it embeds itself in its location with much of the same intimacy Desmond did in his book. With that framework, the author meticulously but creatively and urgently lays out the multitude of nuances in the community in which this event occurred and the characters and actions taken before, during, and after, all while maintaining clarity and great interest. Moreover, the epilogue is an eloquent summing up of the book and what it all means. As an aside, I will mention that Jane Mayer's book, Dark Money, is a resource I would highly recommend to anyone in search of how America has reached its current state. I would most eagerly pair this book with Mayer's book for that purpose.