KILLING THE POORMASTER, A Saga of Povery, Corruption and Murder in the Great Depression

by Hollly Metz

In Hoboken, New Jersey in 1938, as in other cities in our country, thousands of people were unemployed and literally starving.  The position of Poormaster was created and poormasters were given a budget and charged with doling out the necessary aid to assist people in their towns.

Unfortunately, Harry Barck, the poormaster for the City of Hoboken, New Jersey was one of the worst examples of someone entrusted with this power.  He was a cold hearted, stingy and mean man who went out of his way to further humiliate those he was appointed to serve; proud when he denied aid to the neediest of families, while filling the pockets of town officials and family members with the aid money.  

Joseph Scutellaro was just one of the many unemployed, struggling to even feed his family.  On February 25, 1938, Mr. Scutellaro followed the rules of the time and applied to Mr. Barck for aid, for money and for coupons for stale bread to keep his family alive.  Instead of doling out the very barest of assistance as he was charged to do, Mr. Barck suggested that Mr. Scutellaro's wife prostitute herself to feed the family, rather then asking for aid from the city.  Driven by frustration, anger and fear for his family, Joseph Scutellaro wrestled with Harry Barck in the poormaster's office, and either by accident or on purpose, Mr. Barck died from having a paper spindle pierce his heart.  Despite his claims of innocence, Joseph Scutellaro was arrested for the murder of Harry Barck.

But this true story deals with so much more than a death, even if it was murder.  It's the story of desperate people and horrible events during the Great Depression.  With no one looking over their shoulders, poormasters had free rein in deciding how to spend the aid money.  Some did what they were supposed to do and helped the very poorest of their townspeople; and then there were the Harry Barcks, not even doing the barest minimum to keep people alive.

Mr. Barck's death and Mr. Scutellaro's trial turned the national spotlight on the City of Hoboken and the plight of everyone in the country suffering just trying to exist.  Joseph Scutellaro was saved from the electric chair when his attorneys, led by prominent New York Attorney Samuel Leibowitz, argued that the struggle between Mr. Scutellaro and the poormaster was a symbol of the larger social ills of the time.

We've all heard stories from relatives who lived through the depression, but Ms. Metz has delved deeper and unearthed a heartbreaking story of despair and greed during that tragic era.  The position of poormaster disappeared in the 1940s, replaced with social assistance programs that still exist today.

KILLING THE POORMASTER is a hard book to read and even harder to put down.  Well written, it depicts the gut wrenching desperation and corruption that occurred in Hoboken, and it should be on everyone's "must read" list.

ISBN:  9781613744185
Pub. Date:  October 1, 2012
320 pages
Harcover and eBook

PRECIOUS OBJECTS: A Story of Diamonds, Family, and a Way of Life

by Alicia Oltuski - just released

Precious Objects is an inside look at the diamond industry. Ms. Oltuski's family has long been involved in the diamond trade, both in NYC and Europe.

From the mines in South Africa to Nazi Germany to the streets of New York, the author takes the reader on a decades-long and fascinating journey.

Focused mainly on the 47th Street diamond district, the author details transactions ranging from original handshake deals right up to the age of the internet and its impact on the diamond trade.  We learn of the birth of the Rapaport Diamond Report and are introduced to a fascinating cast of characters, as well as the dangers of their chosen occupation.

Nonfiction, Precious Objects reads like a novel and is a delight to read.  Ms. Oltuski deftly weaves her rich family history into the fabric of the diamond trade.

 ISBN 978-141-654512-5           
Pub. Date: July 2011
368 pages
Hardcover and eBook

THE COMPANY WE KEEP: A Husband-and-Wife True-Life Spy Story

by Robert Baer and Dayna Baer - just released in hardcover and as an eBook

For decades, Robert Baer was a top CIA operative in the Middle East.  Dayna Williamson worked her way up through the ranks in the CIA, serving in strife torn sections of the world.  Both were married when their paths crossed in Sarajevo, but their covert lifestyles and long absences from home had destroyed their marriages as well as strained Dayna's relationship with her elderly parents. 

Robert and Dayna tag-teamed the chapters in THE COMPANY WE KEEP as we follow them on their real-life missions in very dangerous locales.  After resigning from the CIA, they decided to live in Beirut, but their background and training makes regular civilian life nearly impossible and they eventually settled in California.

The Baers have provided us with very in-depth insight into their work for the CIA, including naming names of world leaders you'll recognize.  However, the reader learns very little about their growing personal relationship, cloaked as it is in their adventures.  As their lives continue after resigning from the CIA, the book seems to flounder.

Blogger's note:  I had some trepidation when writing this review because I've never reviewed a book before whose authors were trained in weapons and explosives.

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

By Rebecca Skloot - available in bookstores

Harry S. Truman was President in 1951 when Henrietta Lacks died, but her cells and her legacy live on today. Known for years only as HeLa, the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture that continue to grow today. They have been and still are a vital medical research tool. For most of the past 60 years, scientists never even knew the real name of the woman whose cells sparked a spate of research in both the medical and pharmaceutical fields.

A poor, unassuming and uneducated woman, Mrs. Lacks was treated in the Colored Only Section of Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Her husband and family never even understood just what lived on after her death; believing that a part of Henrietta had actually been kept alive. Her cells were used for wide ranging medical research over decades including polio research in the '50s, the effects of the Atom bomb, cloning, gene mapping and testing for the HPV (papilloma virus) vaccine, the first ever cancer vaccine that was approved in 2006, just to name a few.

Add the civil rights struggle to this blend of science and personal information about Mrs. Lacks in Ms. Skloot's fascinating book. The very real human debate in the book centers on the untold millions made from HeLa research and the abject poverty her family faced. Her children were continually tested by researchers, even as they continued to live in poverty and ironically, without medical insurance. Mrs. Lack's legacy is heroic on so many levels, yet she rested for decades in an unmarked grave in her hometown.

Ms. Skloot has written an amazing and thought provoking book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS.

THE WAL-MART EFFECT

by Charles Fishman

Ever wonder how Walmart can beat their competitors' prices year after year? These chilling tales of just how Walmart squeezes those bargain prices out of manufacturers and vendors are scarier than most thrillers. I read this book about 4 years ago and have totally sworn off of shopping at Walmart. Some bargains just aren't worth the damage they do. Definitely worth reading.

Another book that deals in part with Walmart and the company's effect on local economies is NICKEL AND DIMED: On not getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich.