I concur with the previous reviewer. Mr. Nossiter has produced a well-researched and fascinating chronicle of the case of Medgar Evers, including a detailed and chilling portrait of his assassin. Nossiter also effectively re-creates the eerie atmosphere of early 1960's Mississippi, where the Klan, the White Citizens' Council, and the Sovereignty Commission flourished, and where a man like Beckwith would become a sort of folk hero to his fellow racists. However, it is also a story of dogged determination and the quest for justice, as exemplified by Myrlie Evers and Bobby DeLaughter, whose efforts culminated in the long-overdue conviction of Beckwith. It is a story of tragedy and triumph, skillfully crafted by a talented and deeply insightful writer. Well done, Mr. Nossiter!

Forget the Movie. This is the book to read about the assisination of Medgar Evers and the subsequent retrial some 30 years later of the killer.

The author provides a moving and engrossing story as well as sharp analysis of the social conditions and personalities involved.

The author takes upon himself a thesis too difficult argue successfully. His conclusions are evident before his evidence is presented. I found the narrative clumsy and repetitive.

As a reader with no particular agenda except that a book be well-written and/or informative, I found Nossiter's latest work to be a bit weak stylistically but strong in reportage.He describes all too well the phenomena of the Emperor's new clothes - townspeople turning a blind eye to the obvious, and rationalizing their actions to an extreme. Shadows of the horrors which occured hang over the selected three towns he visited even today though the people and the physical settings have changed almost beyond recognition.I found especially interesting the part the American Embassy in Vichy and its employees played during these dark days.A book which increases my knowledge of a time and place and which impels me to do further reading on the subject is one I like to recommend to others.

Usually, there's nothing like a thorough French bashing to put me in good spirits...I feel I'm entitled after living there for many years. But this book was very effective in showing the compromising, cowardly side of the French during WWII in a very subtle and unsettling way. Nossiter, like a good journalist, lets people tell their own stories, and somehow get people to talk themselves into some pretty deep holes. My one criticism is that the book is too scholarly, the topic is certainly dramatic, and I think that it drags a bit in some places. I once read that the French haven't yet figured out which side they were on in WWII. So true.