Humes will be the guest of The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages book club at 7 PM Thursday in the Rehearsal Hall of Gonzaga University's Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center.
“One of my favorite parts of writing nonfiction,”
says Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and
author Edward Humes, “is the opportunity to
unravel a mystery while immersing in the
worlds of the people and subjects I tackle.”
Over the past 31 years, he's written 15 books in which he's
taken deep dives in history, ecology, education, sociology
and true crime. His 16th book — “The Forever Witness,”
about the use of DNA to solve a 30-year-old murder case
in Snohomish County — will be released Tuesday.
Edward Humes' Journalism
Ed Humes has delivered two prominent national stories from within the heart of California, one earning him a Pulitzer Prize in 1989. His Pulitzer came after long-spanning coverage of Camp Pendleton exposing the faulty conditions at the camp. He reported on the soil and water contamination at Camp Pendleton, the crux of several lawsuits by veterans against the U.S. Marine Corps.
Asides from that, Humes is the author of “The Snitch Tank,” an overview of a detailed investigative series that was turned into a book by Humes and published by The Orange County Register in January of 2016. Humes' book compiled the year-long investigation by a small army of investigative journalists at the Southern California newspaper.
Humes and The Register's reporters covered how a proverbial “snitch tank” operated inside Orange County's jail, and how the sheriff's department violated rights to due process and ran afoul of the constitution for over a decade. Following this project, the Orange County justice system turned over its entire leadership, with the Department of Justice recently releasing a detailed report validating all of The Register's reporting. The DOJ report outlined how the Orange County Sheriff's Department and district attorney's office systematically violated the constitutional rights of defendants for the better part of a decade.
Edward Humes' Books
Buried Secrets: A true story of Serial Murder, Black Magic, and Drug-Running on the U.S. border, Jan. 1, 1991
A look at the infamous Matamoros, Mexico-based drugrunning, kidnapping and murder cult in the late 1980s.
Murderer with a Badge: The Secret Life of a Rogue Cop, Nov. 1, 1992
A mild-mannered Los Angeles traffic cop masterminded at least three contract killings and a string of yacht thefts in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mississippi Mud: A True Story from a Corner of the Deep South, Sept. 1, 1994
In 1987, a circuit court judge and his wife were murdered and their daughter learned officials were more interested in covering up the crime.
No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court, March 5, 1996
Humes was granted a court order gicing him access to Los Angeles' juvenile court system to tell the stories of seven young offenders.
Mean Justice: A Town's Terror, A Prosecutor's Powers, A Betrayal of Innocence, Feb. 19, 1999
Prosecutorial corruption, false accusations and wrongful imprisonment hamper the fight against crime in Bakersfield, California.
Baby ER: The Heroic Doctors and Nurse Who Perform Medicine's Tiniest Miracles, Nov. 28, 2000
A look at the doctors, nurses, patients and parents of the neonatal ICU at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a Top American High School, Sept. 1, 2003
Humes spent a year at a high-performing high school in a Los Angeles suburb to observe the drive for academic excellence.
Over Here: How the G.I. Bill Transformed the American Dream, Oct. 2, 2006
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 included home loans, health care, educational funds and career counseling for WWII veterans.
Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul. Jan. 30, 2007
Humes follows a lawsuit challenging a small town's school board adding "intelligent design" to its curriculum.
Eco Barons: The Dream-ers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet, March 3, 2009
Humes writes about activists, philanthropists, and other visionaries who are saving the world from destruction.
Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Walmart's Green Revolution, May 10, 2011
The inside story of an effort by a corporate consultant to help Walmart reduce inefficiency and waste in packaging, water and diesel fuel.
Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, April 19, 2012
Humes investigates the vast amount of trash Americans generate annually and what some are doing about it: Reducing waste, repurposing it or turning it into art.
A Man and his Mountain: The Everymean who Created Kendall-Jackson and BEcame America's Greatest Wine Entrepreneur, Oct. 22, 2013
The story of the California man who built the Kendall-Jackson wine empire.
Door To Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation, April 12, 2016
Humes examines modern transportation: commuting, pollution, traffic control and technological advances.
Burned: A Story of Murder and the Crime That Wasn't, Jan. 9, 2019
JoAnn Parks spent 28 years in prison after she was convicted with false forensic evidence for a crime she didn't commit: Setting a house fire that killed her three young children.
The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder, Nov. 2019, 2022
A cold case detective sends the DNA of a couple murdered in 1987 to a company that helps research family histories.
And His Latest
Total Garbarge: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World, April 2, 2024
Humes' latest effort expands on his 2012 effort, "Garbology," taking a closer look at the 40% of our food and the 65% of our energy that goes to waste and takes an "in-depth exploration of the pervasive yet hard-to-see wastefulness that permeates our daily lives illuminates the ways in which we've been duped into accepting absolutely insane levels of waste as normal."
Humes also examines what we can do as individuals and at the community level to reduce our waste, lower our energy cost, alleviate our traffic jams, help slow climate change "while making us healthier, happier and more prosperous."
Sources:
EdwardHumes.com, Amazon.com, Thriftbooks.com,
Goodreads, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins Publishers,
Simon & Schuster
This edition of Further Review was adapted for the web by Zak Curley.
