text: This book is very readable because it is oriented to the general reader. Chapter 1 gives his short autobiography as to why he became an anthropologist, and his experiences in Kenya. A forensic pathologist is a medical doctor trained in pathology. A forensic anthropologist has a Ph.D. and studied anthropology, specializing in the human skeletal system. Chapter 3 tells about his laboratory, and the tools used for his work. Chapter 4 has many of the cases he worked on. Chapter 5 notes that most dismemberments result from the drug trade or motorcycle gangs. The Interstate Highway System provides arteries for crimes and serial killers. (p.63). Chapter 6 discusses cases of suicide. Many people kill themselves without intending to. It is important to distinguish between murder and suicide (p.86). Page 87 tells why Florida has an inordinate number of suicides. Chapter 7 explains how forensic anthropology developed in response to murders. This chapter discusses some famous cases of this relatively young science. Page 101 tells how to distinguish between bone from rock by taste! Chapter 8 says bones are not solid and unchanging, they are constantly reshaping themselves.
  
  In Chapter 9 Maples tells of the use of capital punishment (p.128), and discusses the various methods (pp.129-131). He seems emotionally involved. Chapter 10 informs us about cremation. Chapter 11 has Maples' most difficult and most fascinating and perplexing case. The two dead in High Springs FL were linked to a shocking double murder in New Hampshire (p.152). Page Jennings' parents made a big, fatal mistake in sending their daughter so far away after her failure as a freshman (p.164). Chapter 12 deals with the MIA in Vietnam, about 2200 compared to the 8170 in Korea. Hollywood movies created this popular image of captured men (p.187). A "delusion" (p.188)? Maples describes the US Army Central Identification Laboratory that identifies remains recovered from Vietnam. Page 202 tells what happened at the Executive Office Building. Chapter 13 tells of his investigation to recognize the skeleton of Pizarro, and correct an old mistake. The exhumation of President Zachary Taylor and the tests for arsenic poisoning are told in Chapter 14. Page 224 tells of his importance to those times: he backed free states in the new territories. His replacement changed his policies.
  
  Chapter 15 may be the most historically important. Maples was part of a team that identified the bones of Tsar Nicholas and his family. Maples draws political conclusions from "rotten, neglected teeth" (p.259). Chapter 16 tells of the murder of five college students over two days in Gainesville Florida. Maples identified the murder weapon (pp.271-273). The book concludes with the complaint that states are not funding forensic anthropologists, who are few and far between, especially in Florida (pp.278-279). Florida is "the most crime-ridden state in the Union". That is a political decision for each state government. This recalls the most realistic portion of "Quincy, M.E.": whenever Quincy wanted to do more research, his manager often said "there's no money in the budget"!
  
  