Stevens Memorial Library (North Andover)

Beneath a ruthless sun, a true story of violence, race, and justice lost and found, Gilbert King

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 381-404) and index

contains biographical information

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Beneath a ruthless sun

bibliography

1013528348

Gilbert King

a true story of violence, race, and justice lost and found

"A small town. A big secret. In December 1957, the wife of a Florida citrus baron is raped in her home while her husband is away. She claims a 'husky Negro' did it, and the sheriff, the infamous racist Willis McCall, does not hesitate to round up a herd of suspects. But within days, McCall turns his sights on Jesse Daniels, a gentle, mentally impaired white nineteen-year-old. Soon Jesse is railroaded up to the state hospital for the insane, and locked away without trial. Crusading journalist Mabel Norris Reese cannot stop fretting over the case and its baffling outcome. Who is protecting whom, or what? She pursues the story for years, chasing down leads, hitting dead ends, winning unlikely allies. Bit by bit, the unspeakable truths behind a conspiracy that shocked a community into silence come to the surface. Beneath a Ruthless Sun tells a powerful page-turning story rooted in the fears that rippled through the South as integration began to take hold, sparking a surge of virulent racism that savaged the vulnerable, debased the powerful, and roils our own times still."--Dust jacket

A killing freeze -- Real sunshine -- Smoked Irishman -- Make tracks -- Sensational lies -- You will not turn us down -- No suitable place -- Well-laid plan -- So much race pride -- Don't talk to me about conscience, lady -- Way of justice -- If it takes all summer -- Troubled by it -- Faith in Blanche -- Someone who should write a book -- Whether they be white or black -- A newspaper woman -- Epilogue