At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America (Modern Library)

ISBN: 0375754458

Author: Dray, Philip

Condition: New

WINNER OF THE SOUTHERN BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR NONFICTION A landmark work of unflinching scholarship.-The New York TimesThis extraordinary account of lynching in America, by acclaimed civil rights historian Philip Dray, shines a clear, bright light on American historys darkest stain-illuminating its causes, perpetrators, apologists, and victims. Philip Dray also tells the story of the men and women who led the long and difficult fight to expose and eradicate lynching, including Ida B. Wells, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and W.E.B. Du Bois. If lynching is emblematic of what is worst about America, their fight may stand for what is best: the commitment to justice and fairness and the conviction that one individuals sense of right can suffice to defy the gravest of wrongs. This landmark book follows the trajectory of both forces over American history-and makes lynchings legacy belong to us all.Praise for At the Hands of Persons UnknownIn this history of lynching in the post-Reconstruction South-the most comprehensive of its kind-the author has written what amounts to a Black Book of American race relations.-The New YorkerA powerfully written, admirably perceptive synthesis of the vast literature on lynching. It is the most comprehensive social history of this shameful subject in almost seventy years and should be recognized as a major addition to the bibliography of American race relations.-David Levering LewisAn important and courageous book, well written, meticulously researched, and carefully argued.-The Boston GlobeYou dont really know what lynching was until you read Drays ghastly accounts of public butchery and official complicity.-Time