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- Verified Buyer
As a Texan and, for the most part, lifelong Houstonian, I found this book to be time well spent. The author does a great job of detailing the many stories of the Duke's transgressions. The most notorious being his front-and-center role in LBJ's fraudulent 1948 election victory that, had LBJ lost (well, he did lose, but anyway), would certainly have ended his political career. One can't help sadly considering what might have been re the many Americans (and Australians - and, for that matter, Vietnamese) who's lives ended early & violently, had the Duke not exercised his power. (Recent evidence uncovered re LBJ's possible role in the JFK assassination makes the "what might have been" even more bitter to this reviewer.) The 1948 Box 13 scandal is covered in detail, but there's much more to the Duke's story. (So, if you just want the voting scandal, you'll get it, but beware it's only a portion of the book.)As it's written by the Ass't US Attorney who attempted to pin him once and for all, it contains excellent detail of the further crimes he went on to commit. (It's for future readers to discover if the Duke got away yet again or if he finally met his match. Or, you could just check online, but what fun is that?)On a more nostalgic note, which is an emotion this book's "little details" repeatedly conjured in me, I couldn't help but think back to the way things were. Back when we weren't tethered to mobile phones, constantly checking email, etc. I'm, admittedly, not fond of how tedious life has become. Reading the stories about ("snail") mail fraud and the like really sets it in another time. The advent of mobile phones and the internet happened so closely while the telephone and television were spaced out considerably. Society was really different then. I stress the technological changes we now live with bc so many of the Duke's crimes could never happen today (eg, the box 13 scandal). The book makes one reflect on how technology has changed the avenues by which one commits crime. Today's version of the crime detailed in the book certainly requires more intelligence and that's another aspect that stood out. These guys were, uh, not exactly the brightest bulbs in the chandelier if you know what I'm saying. The author gets this and it often leads to a laugh or two.On that same line, the book details very well the larger than life characters that were such a part of life in Texas. Both the Duke and LBJ were larger than life, but they were also, let's be frank, murderers. (To be clear, LBJ was undoubtedly involved in numerous homicides aside from any involvement in JFK's assassination. Pls excuse the digression it was for clarity only.)So, again, there's nostalgia tinged with relief those guys aren't around anymore. It may be said, "Well, others have merely taken their place." But regarding Duval County, it'll never be that utterly corrupt again and that's a good thing.
