American Framing: The Same Something for Everyone by Paul Andersen, Jayne Kelley, and Paul Preissner (eds.). Park Books, 252 pp., $40.
Peter Weir’s 1985 movie Witness centers around detective John Book (Harrison Ford) whose quest to find the murderer of an undercover officer takes him on an unforeseen journey into the heart of Amish country. The murder was witnessed by an eight-year-old Amish boy, Samuel Lapp (Lukas Haas), who identifies Book’s colleague James McFee (Danny Glover) as one of the killers. Book realizes that McFee is part of a corrupt ring of officers, led by the chief of police, Paul Schaeffer (Josef Sommer) and that they are all involved in the undercover sale of black-market amphetamines.
McFee tries to kill Book, but only leaves him badly wounded. Book, honor-bound to protect Samuel and his young, widowed mother, Rachel (Kelly McGillis), drives them to their community outside the city, where he’s saved from death by the ministrations of an Amish doctor and Rachel. As he tries to keep the investigation going, Book helps aro…