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Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era
Top of the pile
81
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
94/100Critics
67/100Scholars
Author:
Jerry Mitchell
Publisher:
Simon Schuster
Date:
February 4, 2020
Mitchell takes readers on the road that led to the reopening of four of the most infamous killings from the days of the Civil Rights movement, decades after the fact. His work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham and the Mississippi Burning case.
What The Reviewers Say
His journalistic coups revealed an uncanny ability to wheedle incriminating remarks from defensive suspects and damning observations from unfriendly witnesses.
Mitchell is skilled at interviewing suspects and their accomplices, and the book includes chilling profiles of unrepentant Ku Klux Klan members. In looking back at each case, Michell demonstrates the ways that politicians and judges influenced the outcome of the original trials, and reminds us that the pursuit of justice has always been a political act.
... covers largely familiar ground.
Mitchell’s work deserves applause for his tenacity in bringing justice where the system failed miserably. His work also highlights the value of high-ideals journalism in a democracy. Were he reporting in Washington or New York, Mitchell would be a nationally renowned journalist, mentioned in the same sentence as Woodward, Bernstein and Hersh..
