Justice in Mississippi: The Murder Trial of Edgar Ray Killen
In a follow-up to hisMurder in Mississippi, Ball provides an account of the 2005 trial and conviction of 80-year-old Edgar Ray Killen, who in 1964 orchestrated the murders of three civil rights workers—Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner—in Neshoba County, Miss. Ball, a Vermont Law School professor, clearly articulates his view of the trial as "a prism through which to gauge the nature of change in a city, a county, and a state that have resisted change using... violence and even murder—for hundreds of years." Ball also has a point of view, and throughout his harrowing description of the degradations blacks routinely suffered in pre–Civil Rights movement Mississippi, he displays a deep sense of outrage and anger over the brutal, state-empowered racism. According to Ball, the changes that allowed Killen to be brought to justice were varied and included media efforts, particularly the 1988 movieMississippi Burningand local community groups seeking a South African–style reconciliation between blacks and whites. The insights into the evolving Southern culture make this worthwhile reading, and Ball's guarded optimism about the future is encouraging. With Killen's conviction, he writes, "[T]here is at last the beginning of racial reconciliation." 28 b&w photos.(Sept. 8)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.