If there were ten stars, I'd give them...one of the best books I have read about anything, pretty much. Beautifully written and will rewire your understanding of race in the American South and adds needed perspective (especially for white people) about the modern Civil Rights movement. You won't want to put it down.

The author of this book was associate professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the time this book was published. I had started reading this book over a year ago. I recently decided to pick it back up; the events and the subsequent riots described in this book are eerily similar to current events; I highly recommend this book.

Loved it. Aside from the story of the riots in the summer of 1970, about which I knew nothing, there is not a great deal of new information in this semi-memoir. However, the light in which Tyson paints relations between our identities and our ideas about race in this country are very revelatory. His anecdotes are very accessible and he's very even-handed in his description of people who, at first glance, seem irredeemable. He does not let people off the hook, either, though. Just because race has played out like this for 300 years in this country, Tyson will not condone it but try to help the reader gain some new perspective on it without ignoring the white supremacy that has dominated thought in our country. I highly recommend this.

Too technical

In the epilogue Tyson quotes Faulkner, "The past is not dead. It's not even past." The quote sums up the importance of reading this book for me. It was devastating to read about the unjust and horrific treatment of human beings in our country, but as the author points out--we have to face our past if we want to move forward. In this historical account there were people who stood up for the rights of others. In this there is hope.

In a word: amazing. Probably one of the best books I've read in quite some time.
A mixture of memoir and history, Tyson tells the story of a murder in small-town North Carolina--how it changed (and didn't change the town) and more importantly, changed him. It's a meditation on faith and race and politics. It is most definitely not a typical history book, and the personal connection to the story and its aftermath makes for a very gripping read.
I'm normally a very quiet, non-emotional reader (rarely laugh or cry at a book). This book had me gasping, chuckling, crying and cursing. It's one of those books that I want to force everyone to read. Highly recommended without reservations.

This part memoir/part history lesson was a tough read at times, partially for the subject matter as just showing not that long ago how little was thought about the life of a person of color in this country. However, the other issue I had reading it was it felt very choppy in terms of being a memoir, then being almost a text book on civil rights, then flipping to somewhat of a moral and faith based discussion. Keeping all that in one place is fine if the writing style is consistent, but it wasn't so there were times it really did draw away from the book as a whole.

In the author notes at the end, you find out that this started as a pure history thesis for Tyson in college - just a factual 200 page writing of what happened in this part of North Carolina in the late 60's. He then turned it into a much more personal story of how he and his family were part of it, how it impacted his thinking while growing up and how he now (2003ish) looks at things. The issue was it wasn't done all that smoothly - just seemed he'd take 20 pages of his thesis and that was a chapter, then 10 pages of thought, then a little family history....a bit jarring of a read.

However, with that, still well worth the read, particularly the last 75 or so pages where we see how the crime and trial played out and how Tyson then went back over it with people in the area. That final part really elevated the rest.

Definitely worth a read, particularly in these times of race based killings - does put some historical context to both how it's been much worse, but also that you'd think it would be much better by now.....except realizing that time was only 50 or so years ago - teens at that time are 60 now - and in charge. Some have used the horrifying experiences of that time to try to do better....while others think those horrifying experiences were the better times. One of them resides in the White House which makes this book a particular interesting read in 2020.

Know going in that the first 150 or so pages may take some "stick to it" as some reads like a text book, but definitely worth it, and you do learn quite a bit.

This is a beautifully written and powerful (if a bit meandering) book. Read it for the story - it's both important and instructive - and for the interwoven family biography and especially for the routinely lyrical, uplifting writing.

Here's how wonderful the writing is: I was ordering the author's new book and just happened to see the strong reviews for this one and responded to the prompt to read a bit and see what it's like. I couldn't stop reading, so moved was I by the beautiful, soaring prose. I ordered it and paid extra to have it delivered the next day and managed to finish it four nights later during a week in nwhich I worked over 60 hours: it was so enthralling that, tired though I was, I read voraciously each night to finish it.

Now, it's not perfect: For example, some of the historical, contextual jaunts seem superfluous and/or too long, but all are informative. Further, I can't help but think that the author is quite(/overly?) charitable with respect to his family members who're also profiled in this book: it's not that he excuses their foibles, necessarily, just that sometimes he seems overly surprised and/or understanding of behaviors of which he may not be as forgiving with others (or would seek more proof and take less on faith with respect to others).

This being said, I was often amazed by the lyrical turns of phrase that are ubiquitous in this book, reflecting both the unique cadence of the South and the author's prodigious gifts. I want to share a few, but, honestly, there are so many, it's (too) hard to choose (so I'll just grab the book and open it to a random page).

In this Black History Month, I'll share one example from the author's description of the reaction of many Americans to the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He suggests that we were "mourning a loss so deep as to defy easy assessment, even at a distance of decades." As I read this, I realized that it perfectly described my still-conflicted feelings about this hero's demise.

OK, one more: in describing the country's experience at war, he notes "In the late 1960s ... the Vietnam War made more and more corpses and less and less sense...."

Alright, the final one: in describing the world of White Supremacy in which he grew up, the author notes that it was "a society where white men made decisions and black women made dinners...."

His turns of phrase can at times be as haunting as they are beautiful, which makes the meandering not only tolerable but often a gift of indelibly memorable imagery and prose. In sum, you learn a lot about the tragedy of Henry Marrow's death, about the segregated society that produced and condoned it and about the coming of age of a family whose worldview rubbed against this uncomfortably ... all told vividly and beautifully. In a weird way, the elegance of the narrative obscures the horror of the central tragedy in this work, though it also exposes and indicts the White Supremacy of the time all too powerfully and horribly.

Read this book if you are interested in modern American History, Sociology and/or Biography. If you are a student of the South and its folkways, grab a copy and devour it like the rich treat that it is. And read it if you just flat out enjoy beautiful, lyrical writing. I cannot a recall a book that tells such a heinous story so incredibly as to make it such an enjoyable experience (while not diminishing the tragedy that is its genesis and the lessons that we should learn therefrom).

I was a young child when the events in this book happened but I do remember some of it. I am about the same age as the author. I usually prefer fiction but I found this book very interesting and instructive (if that is a word.) Perhaps it's because it took place in NC. It's very appropriate for these times we're living through now. I heartily recommend it for everyone!

This is an account of an act of horrific racial violence in Oxford Mississippi in the 1970s. It contrasts poignantly "what ought to be and what was" about the post-Civil Rights era South and demonstrates how this incident helped catalyze a more militant African-American reaction to racism in Oxford. It also depicts the ambiguous and sometimes ambivalent relationship between well-intentioned white liberals and Southern blacks. Unfortunately, the writing is mediocre and the book does not manage successfully to combine memoir and history.

Ten stars. Seriously. This is some of the finest writing, research, and retelling of a painful story occurring within our recent history. Tyson delves deep into the roots of racism, the "lie of white supremacy", and the events, politics, and religion surrounding a specific incident which marked his childhood and was a defining, racially dividing moment in North Carolina history. He further exposes how history is buried, erased, and misremembered--often to the harm of African Americans and the benefit of white people. A stunning, moving, and must-read type book I'd be proud to loan you. (As soon as I get my own copy, that is!)

I honestly think this book should be required reading for all American high school students. I grew up in a very, very, white part of the country and didn't learn much of anything about the civil rights movement until I sought out a few classes in college. Those classes didn't come anywhere close to the history recorded in this book.

I had no idea and I'm not sure that the vast majority of people I know have a clue either. Even the people right here where I live, who might have even lived through the events in this novel.

As the author says - we can't weave our future whole cloth - it must be built on the past and we must look at and acknowledge and try to understand our past in order to grow from it.

The book is very well written and engaging. You feel the author's gentleness and clear eyed examination that carries you through the horrors of every day violence carried out against black americans that our history books have completely ignored. A bright light is shone on these atrocities, but there is a complexity of examination, a struggle to understand, that does not excuse but helps us to identify with the very flawed humans on all sides of this struggle. There is anger but we are asked to put bitterness aside and try to understand and act with that understanding in our hearts.