cover image Drug Wars: An Oral History from the Trenches

Drug Wars: An Oral History from the Trenches

Tim Wells, Tin Wells. William Morrow & Company, $20 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-688-09548-2

This oral history adds virtually nothing to the general reader's understanding of addiction and the drug trade. The addicts' stories, each about a page in length, are harrowing, those of law enforcement officers colorful and the greed of the dealers demonstrably great. But while the many details, some grisly, serve to fill in the street scene, the authors provide little exposition, analysis or context for the accounts and no validation of their accuracy. Wells ( 444 Days: The Hostages Remember ) and Triplett ( The Flowering of the Bamboo ) state, ``We have tried not to pass judgment or recommend solutions--only to listen and learn, with the hope that hidden truths will emerge.'' The book is not without interest, but readers may find its intentional inconclusiveness frustrating. (May)