At Harvard University in 1995 an Ethiopian student, Sinedu Tadesse, stabbed her Vietnamese room-mate 45 times before hanging herself. Melanie Thernstrom investigated the story for "The New Yorker", but the Harvard authorities declined to co-operate. She discovered that the victim, who was sociable and popular, had just before her death asked to be roomed with a different student for her final year. Tadesse, in common with most Ethiopians, was extremely reserved by western standards and had become increasingly troubled by depression and personality problems. Thernstrom visited Ethiopia to try to unravel these problems and talked to Tadesse's family and former school friends about possible motives. This book presents an account of her investigations of the case.