'“Her historical, political, social, and psychological discursiveness . . . is her way of telling us that no individual or individual idea or individual situation is without connection with the whole past, present, and future of mankind, and that this is so even while we hold fast our image of the uniqueness of each human instance.” —The New York Times “A Train of Powder should be given to every juror in every capital case to supplement the judge’s instructions. . . . As compelling as Court TV but without the frisson of voyeurism (and with the compensatory satisfactions of West’s breathtakingly lucid prose style), these elegant narratives remind us of the preciousness and fragility of our right to trial by jury.” —Francine Prose, Tin House  '