At the Hands of Persons Unknown Book Reviews

At the Hands of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray Book Summary

WINNER OF THE SOUTHERN BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR NONFICTION • “A landmark work of unflinching scholarship.”—The New York Times

This extraordinary account of lynching in America, by acclaimed civil rights historian Philip Dray, shines a clear, bright light on American history’s 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 individual’s 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 lynching’s legacy belong to us all.

Praise for At the Hands of Persons Unknown

“In 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 Yorker

“A 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 Lewis

“An important and courageous book, well written, meticulously researched, and carefully argued.”—The Boston Globe

“You don’t really know what lynching was until you read Dray’s ghastly accounts of public butchery and official complicity.”—Time

👋 Do you love At the Hands of Persons Unknown books? Please share your friends!

At the Hands of Persons Unknown (Philip Dray) Book Reviews 2024

Philip Dray - At the Hands of Persons Unknown Discussions & Comments

Have you read this book yet? What do you think about At the Hands of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray book? Ask the bookpedia.co community a question about At the Hands of Persons Unknown!