Rating: 
Summary: A life that should not be forgotten
Review: The seemingly idyllic island life shared by Peace Corps volunteers and Tongan natives was shattered one night in 1976 when Deborah Gardner,a recent arrival was discovered dying outside her hut. Rumors swept the island until another volunteer surrendered himself to the police. He told island authorities that Deborah deserved to die. He had no emotion other than in relation to himself. What followed was a bizzare legal exercise. Though most were convinced he had comitted the crime, the man eventually was tried using and insanity defense. Found insane at the time of the murder the man was flown to the US with a promise to the Tongan authorities that he would be detained in a mental hospital. He arrived home and and walked away free. Years later, when face to face with the admitted murderer, Weiss is struck by the man's containment and his need to control the interview and what is written. No remorse is expressed. Many of the people involved tried to bury the memories and questions.
The event became island legend. Phillip Weiss first heard it from a friend several years after the murder. Very little had appeared in the US media, perhaps supressed by the Peace Corps and other government ententies. Painstakingly, he contacts most of the volunteers on the island at the time,as well as many of the islanders. Many are eager to share their thoughts, their confusion, their feelings of betrayal and guilt. What emerges is an almost unbelievable tale of murder and the willingness of the Peace Corps to protect the murderer. There are many vivid participents. Mary George, the directer of the Corps in Tonga,was almost evangical in her efforts to sheild the suspect from Tongan justice and seems to slip in and out of reality as she grapples with the dual cultures. She goes as far as to write the victim's greiving parentsto suggest they pray for the murderer's well being.She also begins to talk of her "visions' which she uses to direct other Corps Members.The McMaths, a
family who befriend the killer,only to be betrayed by his violation of Mrs. McMath. Even years later, she is afraid. The prosecuter and the Tongan authorities who valiently struggle to bring the murderer to justice only to be thwarted by Peace Corps administrators and the government.Many of the volunteers remark they were betrayed by their government and feel guilt because they didn't fight harder to speak out. There is a grieving family in the Us who never realized their daughter's killer has never been punished, a family destroyed. What Weiss does best is bring to life the portrait of a vibrent young woman who was eager to embrace life. That is the memory we should keep alive.
Rating:
Summary: The Haunting
Review: Beautifully written--and truly a midnight tale in a garden of good and evil--AMERICAN TABOO by Philip Weiss is a chilling morality play set in a risky paradise of mulberry and banana trees, ritual daggers,and poison-finned fish. In 1975,Deborah Gardner of Steilacoom, Washington--seductive and lovely as Ava Gardner,and only 23 years old--arrived in Tonga as a member of the 33-member Peace Corps brigade that would also include her murderer. As much about the U.S. Peace Corps--and its role in the miscarriage of justice that resulted from the Gardner murder trial--as it is a true crime and legal thriller, AMERICAN TABOO is above all an excursion into a South Seas realm of native custom and foreign "mischief" that together weave the legend of Deb Gardner's brutal death. A Pacific longhouse criminal trial; a New Zealand Tongan Rumpole in barrister's wig and black robes; a brilliant, twisted Brooklyn defendant; cyanide, stabbings, and a Seahorse knife: "No one forgets his first foreign country," Weiss's book begins. By the end of his story, no one will either forget the blood-soaked white dress of the beautiful Deb Gardner, and the well-told tale of Tonga that is AMERICAN TABOO.
Rating: 
Summary: The Ghost Of Her Walks
Review: I am haunted by this book.
I joined the Peace Corps in 1976, just a few days after the murder of Deborah Gardner. I was stationed a world away, in a well-managed program, with a Country Director who was fair, ethical, and dedicated.
Even so, the details of Gardner's life and death in Tonga rang so true to me. I felt I knew her and her Peace Corps companions. Her aspirations, adventures and frustrations could have been those of any volunteer. Her death was our worst nightmare.
Weiss perfectly, almost eerily captures the reality of the Peace Corps experience. He aces the sense of idealism and high spirits, and balances them perfectly with the more difficult side of that kind of life, the frustration, the sense of profound cultural displacement, the struggle to maintain a sense of self in a world where everything is different.
This is not a perfect book. Despite Weiss's painstaking research and his obvious emotional attachment to his subjects, his writing style seems hurried and sometimes sloppy. One senses that once he assembled all his data and had reached the conclusion of his grueling investigation, he felt compelled to rush his manuscript into print. I can understand the rush - with a story like this, one couldn't help but want to tell it as quickly as possible. But there was just too much carelessness and haphazard editing to warrant a full five stars.
But he also gives us compellingly real portraits of complex characters and a heartbreaking denouement. This is a story that will captivate you and break your heart. And the ghost of Deb Gardner will walk through your soul.
Rating:
Summary: Playing God in the Pacific
Review: I am so glad the author has written this book! He has opened up the powerful story of an inspired life so many others willed into oblivion. In the tiny Pacific nation of Tonga, a beautiful young woman infuriated a fellow American by rejecting him and loving his friend. In a fit of jealous rage, he brutally stabbed her to death. The Tongan police arrested the killer and put him on trial. Incredibly, however, many of his compatriots began to treat her killer as the victim. The Peace Corps in Tonga rushed to save him from judgment. It was as if they shared the killer's belief that the murdered woman's beauty had been a crime for which she deserved to die.
A previous reviewer pointed out that the author might not have been so obsessed with this woman's murder if she had not been beautiful. True, perhaps; but had she not been beautiful, her killer would not have obsessed with possessing and then murdering her. Had she not been beautiful, the Peace Corps Director and so many of the other expatriates in Tonga might not have been so unbelievably cold and indifferent to her murder. Horrified by the Peace Corps' protection of the man they all knew to have killed her, many of the Tongans began calling all the Americans there "killers." The mystery here is not who killed this young woman, but why and how the Peace Corps in Tonga ultimately vindicated her murderer, and in so doing, effectively justified her murder.
Like Deborah Gardner, I grew up on the West Coast, went looking for adventure in the Peace Corps, and turned 23 in the Pacific. The beauty of the islands awed me, and the intense friendships we formed moved me, but I sensed something sinister about the Peace Corps there. Ugly things happened that repeatedly bewildered and shocked me; lies were told in volumes of paperwork; people were forced to leave, or compromise themselves; other people looked the other way. It was a mystery that maddened me: here we were in this spectacular place, guests in a fascinating society, supposedly carrying out a mission of peace, and so many of the Americans behaved like self-righteous maniacs. I fantasized about writing a book and calling it something like "Playing God in the Pacific." When I described the atmosphere of fear and persecution to a friend elsewhere in Peace Corps, she said: it's as if you witnessed a murder they're trying to keep secret. I did not understand how prescient her comment was until now. We never heard about Deb's murder then, but I believe Weiss' book brings to light a lot about the nature of the Peace Corps in the Pacific to this day. What happened, and how the Peace Corps dealt with what happened, continues to haunt the Peace Corps all over the Pacific.
Rating:
Summary: Must read (for anyone with a connection to Tonga)
Review: I enjoyed 'American Taboo.' Though as a former Tongan Peace Corps Volunteer (2000-2002), I admit some bias. This was Weiss's first full-length book, and it showed, but I did not think it deserved the criticism it received from some reviews. Every Tonga Peace Corps Volunteer - former, current, or hopeful - needs to read this book. While the event depicted was a tragic anomaly, the book provides considerable insight into the country, the culture, the Peace Corps administration, and the Peace Corps experience. I appreciate Weiss's thorough research and his respect for the Tongan people. I highly recommend 'America Taboo' to anyone - Peace Corps or not - with a connection to the Kingdom of Tonga.
Rating:
Summary: A Story That Needed To Be Told
Review: I enjoyed this book, though it was quite painful to read about how the Peace Corps as an institution failed the Gardner family. I served in the Peace Corps in the late 1970's in the South Pacific (though not in Tonga), and, like many former volunteers, I consider my time in the Peace Corps to be one of the seminal experiences in my life. I still have great respect for the Peace Corps and its mission, but in 1976 and 1977 the agency sadly put preservation of its image above achieving justice for Deborah Gardner. Gardner's killer-who can have any doubt that it was fellow volunteer Dennis Priven-was, to my mind, a very disturbed individual who brilliantly manipulated the Tongan legal system. The author makes almost incontrovertibly clear, however, that Priven would likely not have succeeded without the complicity (and, sometimes, active effort) of Peace Corps' officials. If you have no other reaction upon reading this book, you will be left with the feeling that a serious miscarriage of justice took place, and that our government facilitated Priven's release back into American society. The book brought back many memories of Peace Corps training and day-to-day volunteer life. (I also did "staging" at the Hotel Californian, and it was uncanny how the author captured the essence of the place and the overseas pre-departure activities.) The author does a good job of conveying those details, and he is quick to acknowledge the wealth of PCV/Tonga diaries, letters, and journals that were available to him. He also conducted numerous interviews with returned volunteers and others for what appears to be a very well-researched book. I didn't mind that the author injected himself into the story at times. It was interesting to follow how he conducted his research and how he overcame obstacles while investigating events that took place almost three decades ago. I also didn't mind the several asides, usually involving Wayne Gardner, Deborah Gardner's father (e.g., Wayne Gardner's moose hunting trip in Alaska). The extra material almost always shed light on key relationships in the book, especially the pivotal relationship between Deborah Gardner and her father. So why not 5 stars? I agree with other reviewers who criticized the author's writing style. At times he is quite eloquent, but at other times he mangles syntax and uses run-on sentences. One newspaper reviewer also described him as "comma happy," and I'd have to agree. More colons, semi-colons, and, especially, periods would have helped. The author mentions that there may be other books published about these events, and I couldn't help thinking that there was a rush to publication of this book without the benefit of a good edit by the publisher. Grammar and punctuation problems aside, however, the book tells a powerful if supremely sad story and is well worth the read. The killer got away with murder, and there seems little that can be done legally after all these years about obtaining justice for Deborah Gardner. Though of little comfort to her family, a governmental investigation into how the Peace Corps handled the matter would ensure that the same thing never happens again. As a former Peace Corps volunteer who is proud of his service, I think this blot on the Peace Corps' record needs to be finally and fully brought out into the sunshine and that apologies are long overdue the Gardner family.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, especially to someone who's been there.
Review: I had high hopes for this book, as I am former Peace Corps Tonga volunteer just three years removed from my time in the kingdom. The story of Deb Gardner's murder and the Peace Corps' role in essentially freeing her killer is a gem of a story, which makes it that much more of a letdown that Weiss couldn't do more with it. As I read through the sloppy text, eventually coming to the most anti-climactic confrontation one could imagine, I kept wishing that Jon Krakauer had gotten a hold of this story instead of this author. I also wished Weiss had dealt fully with the weirdness of his own attraction to the deceased Miss Gardner, or left it out completely. Would he have pursued this project at all had she been homely rather than the "most beautiful girl in Peace Corps"? Former PC volunteers, especially from the Pacific, will probably enjoy the book for its ability to remind us of the islands and a few aspects of life as a volunteer. And the story itself is a good lesson in how the vaunted Peace Corps doesn't send only the best and brightest to represent America and give aid to the developing world. Some real nutcases are out there. I give Weiss some credit for a difficult task: writing about the Peace Corps without actually being a former volunteer.
Rating:
Summary: American Taboo
Review: I was NOT a Peace Corps Volunteer but lived in the South Pacific, Western Samoa, from 1978 - 1991. I worked as a teacher through the Methodist Church in Samoa. During my time there I associated with many PCV and NEVER heard of the murder in Tonga. This book was an eye opener and for one who was immersed in the culture of the South Pacific it was a sad disappointment that Tongan Justice was not served. This book was written with a lot of thought and research. I admire Mr. Weiss's perserverance in obtaining documents amidst the government and Peace Corps "reluctance" to accommodate him. I can appreciate the culture in relation to this book since I have married a Samoan. The culture is a real and driven part of this case and a total shame that it was not respected by the organization that supposedly trains its volunteers to blend in with the people. Hats off to Mr. Weiss.
Rating: 
Summary: A Noble Effort
Review: Living abroad can do strange things to your psyche. Living abroad on a remote island can make you certifiable. Mr. Weiss takes us on that psychological journey through the eyes of Peace Corps Volunteers in the tiny Kingdom of Tonga during the mid 1970s. Having been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tonga, I can tell you that the toughest aspect of the job is not the food, housing or lack of pay, but rather, the mental challenge of adapting to another culture without the social norms that one grows accustomed to in the United States. Some Volunteers cope by drinking or smoking dope, others simply lose their marbles and need to be evacuated. Clearly, Dennis Priven, the Volunteer accused of murder in this sad story, should have been evacuated long before he lost his last marble. And therein lies the impetus for telling this trajedy - to reveal the abject failure of the Peace Corps bureaucracy to protect Volunteers, and subsequent efforts to conceal the murder. Deborah Gardner, the victim, might still be alive had the Peace Corps recognized Mr. Priven's erratic behavior as a warning sign of mental instability prior to her death. Instead, the Peace Corps formulated a strategy with the alleged killer's attorney to use his mental instability as a defense to set him free. This is inexcusable, particularly in light of the memos and correspondence uncovered by Mr. Weiss that demonstrate the Peace Corps' intentional efforts to conceal the murder from Congressional and Executive branch oversight.
In my opinion, American Taboo raises a singularly important question - what has been done since Deborah Gardner's death to ensure the trajedy will not repeat itself? Twenty years after her death, during my two years of Peace Corps service in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, not one person ever mentioned Deborah Gardner or her killing to me. My hope is that this book will become a force of positive change for the Peace Corps in order to make it a more transparent and effective organization in supporting the thousands of Volunteers who continue to serve throughout the world.
Notwithstanding the numerous grammatical mistakes, Mr. Weiss should be congratulated on a noble effort to reveal a trajedy that should never have happened.
Rating:
Summary: You will find yourself shocked
Review: Philip located a gem of a plot and turned it into an engrossing tale of murder in exotic climes. Twenty years ago a young woman in the Peace Corps was murdered, violently taken out by a fellow member of the Corp. At twenty-three, Deborah Gardner was in search of both adventure and purpose in her life; as a science teacher bringing knowledge to the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific, it looked as if she had found both of her goals at once.
A Washington State native, Debbie was a wonderful example of free-spiritedness, and was warm and friendly to all that she met. It was a personality the Tongan people had a little trouble with, being more observant of sexual differences and boundaries. A few of the other Peace Corps volunteers felt that she was too friendly as well, however Debbie wasn't as loose as they'd like to think. Just warm and friendly, something there really is no harm in being.
Then along came Dennis, another science teacher. A man who should have been watched just a little closer. All the warning signs were there, he began to obsess about Debbie, and finally to stalk her. His passionate desire wasn't returned, and although a warm friendship was in the offing, it wasn't enough to soothe the fires raging within him. If only the Peace Corps leader had paid attention to requests, complaints, and also suspicions, instead of doing her own thing, the tale may have had a much different ending.
On the night of October 14, 1976 Debbie was found in her hut. She had been stabbed twenty-two times, and amazingly was still alive, although dying. Debbie's loss rocked the tiny Kingdom of Tonga, shocked the other Peace Corps volunteers, and was effectively hushed up and never received the media attention it could and should have had. Dennis turned himself in to the police, after a botched attempt to try and kill himself.
Rumors abounded, and lines were rapidly drawn as those left behind either felt Dennis was innocent, or guilty. Dennis went to trial, but due to some bizarre circumstances, not to mention reversals, and some twisted manipulations, he unbelievably escaped punishment for his crime.
In the Kingdom of Tonga, the events have reached legendary status. The death of a wonderful teacher, and her killer's escape of punishment only served to reinforce the Tongan's prejudice towards "outsiders." The Peace Corps hushed the entire story Stateside, and the killer is still wandering about - free,
Philip has taken the strands of truth and untwisted a complex knot of murder, betrayal, and serious psychosis. Who would have thought that a beautiful little island in the South Pacific would hold such horrifying memories? Hopefully Debbie's soul will rest a little easier now that her story has come into the limelight, and the truth has been uncovered.
This is a great read, although not one to relax and comfort you. You will find yourself shocked at the atrocities mankind can force upon one another, and how the simplest of actions can be so twisted and convoluted as to come to mean something totally opposite. It is also a tale of warning to those who hold the hearts of others in their hands. Be aware of the ramifications, unrequited love can be fatal!
Review Originally Posted at www.LinearReflections.com
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