“Joel’s journalism is literary in nature. Discussing ‘Art in the Time of Bloodletting,’ he notes that its triumph is in doing ‘violence to man’s delusions of fraudulent peace, and the cowardice of the powerful to admit its flaws.’ Beneath the grim landscape, the writer toils to mine hope from the depths of fear.

The gems are served best when Joel takes on the role of a storyteller.”

–Inday Espina-Varona, journalist

(from the Introduction)