Ghosts of Mississippi: The Murder of Medgar Evers, the Trials of Byron De LA Beckwith, and the Haunting of the New South [Hardcover]

Maryanne Vollers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995 | Series: Ghosts of Mississippi (Book 1)

An in-depth examination of a noted civil rights case involving the murder of an NAACP official and his white supremacist killer's three trials draws comparisons between the case and the racial climate in the Deep South. 50,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though this book is a worthwhile account of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP representative Medgar Evers and the eventual conviction last year of his killer, its subtitle suggests a difficult task. Indeed, freelance journalist Vollers spends the first third of the book leading up to Evers's murder, sketching his background and that of racist killer Byron De La Beckwith, as well as their state's racial climate. She then recounts the two mistrials in the case, the paths of Beckwith and widow Myrlie Evers and the evolution in Mississippi?a new breed of politicians, greater black political power and a more aggressive press?that set the stage for a new trial. A few passages jolt: Beckwith, during his last trial in 1994, deems a dark-skinned Indian motel manager "really a white man." Others resonate, as Vollers relates the patriotic Evers's earnest call for desegregation. Though somewhat broader in scope, this title is more diffuse and not as well written as Adam Nossiter's 1994 book, After Long Memory: Mississippi and the Murder of Medgar Evers.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

According to journalist Vollers, the murder of Mississippi NAACP field secretary Evers (1925-63) and the subsequent trials of Byron de la Beckwith sum up the terror of racial segregation, the battle for blacks' civil rights, and a generation of change in Southern bearing and behavior on race. With care for the human elements, Vollers reviews the background of race, culture, class, and personality in Evers's shooting. She then follows the trials?the two acquittals in 1964 and the conviction in 1994. Her approach and easy-flowing prose recall fellow journalist Adam Nossiter's Of Long Memory: Mississippi and the Murder of Medgar Evers (LJ 6/1/94). For collections on Civil Rights, the South, or U.S. history.
-?Thomas J. Davis, SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 411 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316914851
• ISBN-13: 978-0316914857
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,883,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and eery book; couldn't put it down, May 13, 2007

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Susan Klopfer "Susan" (Gallup, New Mexico where I enjoy the beauty of the high desert) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ghosts of Mississippi: The Murder of Medgar Evers, the Trials of Byron De LA Beckwith, and the Haunting of the New South (Hardcover)

The stories of Mississippi's modern civil rights movement are too important to forget. This was a fight for democracy and "Ghosts" provides many details that would otherwise be forgotten. The murder of Medgar Evers and the resulting three trials that it took to put away Beckwith are carefully detailed and are important for any student of American history to explore.