SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAS HAPPENED

Hardback. It began as an ordinary quarrel between a young wife and her naval officer husband over whether or not to go to a dance. But with the quick virulence of plague, it spread through the Eden of pre-Pearl Harbour Hawaii, bringing violence and death, inflaming latent racial bitterness, corrupting justice and nearly toppling the Territorial government. The elements of the story were a sensation when they occurred in 1931: the lush, tropical background of Honolulu and its hard-drinking, easy-living naval colony; the lovely Washington girl, Thalia Fortescue Massie. whose accusation brought five Oriental boys to trial for rape; the killing of a defendant; the indictment of Thalia's mother and husband for murder; their defence by the famous criminal lawyer, Clarence Darrow; and the dramatic trial which aroused all Hawaii, turned the Navy against the civilian administration, and set Floyd Gibbons and the Hearst press to a campaign "to make the streets of Honolulu safe for white women." When the tangled web that Thalia Massie wove can be seen more clearly, an even more dramatic, and more important pattern emerges. For Hawaii, of course, the Massie Affair brought about a new political, economic and social era. For the US as a whole, it brought a rough reminder of the once vigorous whiteman's-burden colonialism. In this vivid reconstruction the author provides a new solution and an astonishing denouement. With Map eps + Folding Map, Illus. 328pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Lightly browned pp. o/w Vg+ in nr. f. dw.