Codename Greenkil: The 1979 Greensboro Killings [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Wheaton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1987

This outstanding book chronicles the events leading up to the shootout that occurred when a group of Klansmen and Nazis were confronted by the Communist Workers Party, leaving 5 dead and 9 wounded.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is a multi-level analysis of the problem of racism in the South incorporating the perspectives of three extremist groups: the U.S. Communist Workers' Party, the National Socialist Party of America, and the Ku Klux Klan. During a "Death to the Klan" march in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 3, 1979, five young American Communists were killed. (Ironically, Greensboro was the site of the first lunch-counter sit-ins during the civil rights movement of the 1960s). Wheaton profiles the most interesting actors from each group and provides a lot of information on their backgrounds and character development. This insightful study is highly recommended. Gary D. Barber, SUNY at Fredonia Lib.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Wheaton had made a painstaking investigation—at times a minute-by-minute recontruction—of the fatal assault. She has exhausted the sources, many of the most important of which were skillful interviews with participants and eyewitnesses, to supply a meticulous account of the antecedents, the shooting, and the two trials. . . . Wheaton has made a notable contribution to our understanding of what she calls 'the slow evolution of disaster in the making' and to a 'join[ing of] hands across national and ideological boundaries to stop it before it consumes us.'"—Journal of American History

"This insightful study is highly recommended. . . . Wheaton profiles the most interesting actors from each group and provides a lot of information on their backgrounds and character development."—Library Journal

"A detailed account of the Greensboro killings . . . Wheaton does an impressive job of tracking the complicated legal details to the case."—Washington Monthly

"An absorbing and complete account of this tragic episode and its tangled aftermath . . . A thoughtful and balanced work that examines the social climate that fostered the racism and violently anti-Communist fervor that fueled the Klansmen and Nazis as well as the left-wing idealism that shaped the philosophies of the anti-Klan demonstrators."—St. Petersburg Times

"A definitive, evenhanded account."—Kirkus Reviews

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Georgia Pr; First Edition edition (October 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820309354
• ISBN-13: 978-0820309354
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,966,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extraordiny Book About Racism, February 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Codename Greenkil: The 1979 Greensboro Killings (Hardcover)

I lived in Greensboro, NC when the the events in this book took place. Ms. Wheaton has done a remarkable job of research, in addition to naming names and defining the racist nature of the actions and the cover up. So sadly, it was no surprise that these events took place in my former city. It was also no surprise that the collaboration between the police/Klan/lawyers/
city officials convinced the 'jury' that the so-called officials had acted properly. In this year it perhaps becomes a more important read than when it was first published.

5.0 out of 5 stars CWP and Brown Lung Association, August 28, 2007

By 

Thadyus D. Moore (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Codename Greenkil: The 1979 Greensboro Killings (Hardcover)

Unfortuantely, I have only seen Codename Greenkil's chapter 4 regarding the "CWP's role" in the organization of the Brown Lung Association. I can speak to this with certainty and state that this chapter is on the money.

Some current CWP veterans claim that they organized the first chapter of the BLA in Greensboro, NC. This simply is not true. The hard work of organizing, i.e. facing down the fear factor of what Cone Mills might do, door knocking, building leadership, coordinating meetings/events, etc, was done by social activists with no affiliation with the individuals who later formed the CWP.

However, those individuals who later became the CWP did contribute invaluable medical roles in helping workers become identified as "possible" victims of brown lung disease, a critical first step in getting eligible for compensation and one that rarely occured in the Carolina's before 1974. In spite of the fact of expert physician estimates of 30-40,000 brown lung cases in the Carolinas, only some 80 had received workers' compensation before 1974.