"Uncomfortable to Read Even 140 Years Later"

"Near the end of his powerful account of a largely forgotten incident in our city's history, Zesch asks whether the right lessons have been learned. He argues that the 1871 massacre may have marked the end of mob justice in Los Angeles. But Zesch attributes this milestone primarily to improved law enforcement, not to the better angels of our nature taming our impulse to scapegoat, pander and pick up a gun."

Michael Woo in the Los Angeles Times reviews Scott Zesch's The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871.