Episode Details

Newly published in the United States, Patricia Evangelista's book, "Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in my Country," has been appearing on prestigious lists of best books of the year. The editor of the esteemed New Yorker magazine called it a "journalistic masterpiece."

When Patricia spoke to Howie Severino, she sounded more relieved than elated, having finished a four-year struggle to write a book that failed to meet various deadlines. She talks about the weight of processing the trauma of many victims' families, the risks of naming names, and the obsessive fact-checking and due diligence required of a book about a state-sponsored drug war that shocked the world.

What was as shocking as the dead bodies, she says, was the approval of many. "The terrible became ordinary with applause," she tells Howie. The author acknowledges that she never expected her reportage to change anything and only wanted to create a record of the heinous events. Yet her book's recent acclaim shows that "this one story that I thought might not matter in the context of many things happening in the world does matter."

(Please be advised that this conversation contains sensitive content and some profanity.)

Producer: Aubrey Delos Reyes

Researcher: MJ Cerillo

Editor: Jayr Magtoto

Photos courtesy of Mark Nicdao and Patricia Evangelista

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/06/some-people-need-killing-the-boy-from-kyiv-wound-and-this-is-salvaged?fbclid=IwAR1NNVsChgKAE722ur4MoD-Oda4uvCWy9ddpfh4N5Vr6zgzOH41MclKYTXI

https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2023/6332496/some-people-need-killing/?fbclid=IwAR3JAoXwYyviMPlhN4D56KZb3usKilNwNRNxxP5zreUCWnGzn2NLuVBODt0

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/books/review/some-people-need-killing-patricia-evangelista.html?fbclid=IwAR3oO5J4mu9MrdYxFAw9rebQvpNkoIdYjEWgAJUCYwAyzLyg5DVubmPozY4

https://cseas.yale.edu/patricia-evangelista?fbclid=IwAR2yd-De8BwUTseHaZewt6jMzZjg04nFf0UgKgoW3lr7LteiKjfGI1W15FE

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2200743/patricia-evangelista/?fbclid=IwAR2tuT9ogrwKXZWw-5axDXONtDdKfKKvZp0_9StkgX62CTMcTjLKO3_22Ok

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