Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Atrociously bad writing ruins an otherwise fasinating story

This is an interesting story and an interesting moment in time, but the writing is so atrociously bad, I couldn't get through it. I should have known when I read the first few sentences: "At some point during the late spring of 1983, Richard Baker realized he was in a pickle. He wasn't alone. Hundreds of people were stewing in the same juice." The writing and storytelling just goes downhill from there. Or, as someone once said, he "hits bottom and starts digging." Michael Downing jumps from one topic to the next, and, because the writing is so awful, it's challenging to figure out what his intentions are. A very disappointing telling of a fascinating story. Ugh! Downing says in the introduction, "I am the wrong person to write this story." He's right. Don't bother.