Customer Reviews

Anatomy of a Lynching: The Killing of Claude Neal

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This true and gruesome account of the systematic torture and killing of a human being as a public spectacle is an outrage to humanity. This story unveils a very hidden period in American history and is a very descriptive account of racial hatred and racial control gone too far. Even though this book is very chilling tale, it is a story that needed to be published and needs to be read by everyone. This book was required reading in a crime and political order class I took when I was an undergraduate. I thought I was a well-read American history buff, but after reading this, I am fascinated that I was completely unaware of the public and sanctioned torture of Americans from the end of slavery until the civil rights movement for the first 23 years of my life. The period in American history where racial hatred was acted upon and justified is not far behind us and this documentation is an important account of terror that is not often mentioned.

I first learned about this book while attending college. A classmate of mine recommended it to me. I am from the area mentioned in this book and even though I've lived in this area my whole life, I never knew the history of this incident. I couldn't believe that this incident was so recent and that it was so violent. If you are interested in Southern history, this is a must read!