| | |  | Books | | Home » » | | | | | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| J. B. Mackinnon | | Hardcover:
| 261 pages | | Publisher:
| New Press, The | | Publication Date:
| October 30, 2007 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1595581812 | | Product Length:
| 8.4 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.9 inches | | Product Height:
| 1.03 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.99 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.95 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 4 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 4 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Dead Man in ParadiseSep 17, 2010
By G. Scearce
Very good writing, very descriptive of the way life in the Dominican Republic was during theTrujillo reign, during the revolution of 1965 and life as it is on the island today.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
My Favorite AuthorFeb 26, 2010
By Shay R. Ricar
"Shay R. Ricar"
J.B. Mackinnon is a brilliant author. He wrote a book called "Plenty - Eating locally on the Hundred Mile Diet" that changed my life! I love him!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Excellent!!Jan 20, 2008
By Lisselot Diaz
"Lisselot Diaz"
I loved the book. I am Dominican and I can say proudly that I know my history; that's why I think the author of "dead man in paradise" really did his homework in order to show the reader the Dominican culture and history, as sad as it was. Do not think he is exaggerating about the cruelty and oppression of those days; he is not.
By many expressions in the book, I can tell he is really identified with the Dominican People. I do not know how long it took for him to write the book, but I can tell it was quite some time. You could not get to know such a complicated history in details in a few months.
I hope this book someday is translated into Spanish and put in the bookstores of the Dominican Republic. We would hear a lot about it since many people from the book are still alive, and still in powerful positions.
 Searching for the truth in the Dominican RepublicJun 13, 2011
By R. M. Peterson
In 1965, before the author was born, his uncle was murdered in the Dominican Republic. His uncle was Father James Arthur MacKinnon, born and raised on Cape Breton Island in Canada, and he was a priest of the Scarboro Order. In four-plus years in the DR, Padre Arturo proved himself an indefatigable worker and champion of the rights and interests of the poor and downtrodden. He was murdered in the midst of a revolution, in response to which the United States, two months earlier, had (once again) invaded the country. His bullet-ridden body was found with two other corpses, one an army lieutenant and the other a policeman in civilian clothes. Precisely what happened, and who was responsible, was a mystery, even after an investigation conducted by the Organization of American States.
Forty years later, author J.B. MacKinnon spent months in the DR, trying to resolve the mystery of what happened to his uncle and who was responsible. At one point, he is told: "What you are doing is using history as a weapon, no? You are telling the story of our country, and you need to be careful. There are places where you would ask these kinds of questions and you would disappear." MacKinnon obviously lived to write his book, but he encountered countless runarounds and stonewalls and even a little intimidation, and some (including many Dominicans) probably quarrel with the tentative conclusions he reaches.
To my mind, there are three reasons for reading DEAD MAN IN PARADISE. First is for the picture it gives of Padre Arturo and other members of the Scarboro Order - they are admirable humans whose principal mission was helping people in this world as opposed to preparing them for the next. Second is the portrayal of the DR, both its history and much about life and conditions there today. Over both history and present conditions, the United States looms large, and I for one can't take much pride in what we have done for the DR. Third, DEAD MAN IN PARADISE is a good book, briskly paced and engagingly written. Four-and-a-half stars.
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