WELCOME TO THE BANGKOK SLAUGHTERHOUSE: The Battle for Human Dignity in Bangkok's Bleakest Slums

"Crime in the slums? A yawn is a typical response." In a series of startling, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes uplifting vignettes, an American priest living in Bangkok's Klong Toey slum describes the plight of children who escape abusive homes, who drown in canals, who use and sell drugs; he tells of adults who are alcoholics, who have HIV, who shoot each other over drug turf. Maier, who has lived in Bangkok since 1967 and has established Mercy Centre, a hospice for people with AIDS and a shelter for street kids, speaks as an insider: "There are different rules in the Slaughterhouse," he says. "Violence is a way of life." But he also tells of the good works his organizations have accomplished—protecting and housing abused children, ministering to the dying—and his stories contain love and sometimes even humor. Maier never ties his stories into a single narrative or clarion call for aid (though royalties from the book will go to his Human Development Foundation), but as a portrait of what it's like to live every day in service to one's fellow humans, he delivers a fine, honest book. (Mar.)