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Overview
Let the Bunker Burn examines the events that took place in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985, during a confrontation with a cult named MOVE. City officials, including the mayor, approved a police plan to drop a bomb on the MOVE house. The explosion caused a raging fire that was allowed to burn out of control until it had consumed 61 homes and 11 MOVE members, including several children. In the aftermath there were cover-ups, excuses, and perjury. Bowser reveals disturbing conclusions about how the children were killed, why the bomb was dropped, and why the fire was permitted to burn unchecked.Editorials
Library Journal
In 1985, a siege by Philadelphia police of a house owned by the black radical cult MOVE resulted in 11 deaths and a fire which destroyed the entire neighborhood. An investigatory commission found that city officials had been reckless and grossly negligent. Bowser, a black politician, was a member of that commission. His personal analysis is selective and assumes the reader is familiar with these events. He concludes that black Mayor Wilson Goode was inept and the actions of the white police chief were criminal. Except for a few insights into the commission's work, his book adds nothing new to the story. John Anderson and Hilary Hevenor's Burning Down the House ( LJ 6/1/87) remains the best account of the MOVE tragedy. Journalist/juror Michael Boyette's ``Let It Burn!'': The Philadelphia Tragedy will be published by Contemporary Books in July.-- Ed. -- Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., DavisBook Details
Published
December 31, 1989
Publisher
Philadelphia, PA : Camino Books, 1989.
Pages
192
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780940159082