titanic's review against another edition
1.0
I'm grateful for many things, and for finally finishing this book and never having to read it again is definitely one of them. It was boring. It sounded so good, a true story about racism and the Ku Klux Klan is not want I normally read so it was different and I really thought it would be three stars maybe, but it was awful.
The book constantly repeated things, and often mentioned things that felt unnecessary, and the layout they have for the Kindle app was atrocious. It was barely readable. I really wanted to stop reading pretty much as soon as I started reading, but because it was such a thin book I could read it rather quickly.
The book constantly repeated things, and often mentioned things that felt unnecessary, and the layout they have for the Kindle app was atrocious. It was barely readable. I really wanted to stop reading pretty much as soon as I started reading, but because it was such a thin book I could read it rather quickly.
chewdigestbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This is a reprint of the 1981 book of the same name, FYI. It gives a brief account of the 1964 murder of Lieutenant Colonel Lemuel Penn near Athens, Georgia and the court cases that followed.
It turns my stomach that Penn was only in Georgia to do his reserve service at Fort Benning. He was serving his bloody country and was murdered because the perps "thought" his D.C. license plate meant that he was one of President Johnson's Feds, there to cause trouble.
Let me say that again, he was killed because his license plate showed he wasn't local and the color of his skin while returning home from his responsibilities of serving his, our, and his murder's country.
There isn't a ton of deep diving into the information like there might be in a book published today, but that is part of its strength. It's brevity still covers all of the bases, including what happened to the men charged in the years after and leading up to their death. However, it didn't get me as fired up as many more current books tend to do. It didn't and won't haunt me like [b:The Blood of Emmett Till|30753852|The Blood of Emmett Till|Timothy B. Tyson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474198979s/30753852.jpg|51302259] continues to do, even though I read it way back in January.
Still, when you think about the period it was originally written, 1981, it's message was huge, unique, and very needed. All of the current books owe Bill Shipp a bit for being one of the first authors to stand up and say, this isn't right and you need to learn why.
It turns my stomach that Penn was only in Georgia to do his reserve service at Fort Benning. He was serving his bloody country and was murdered because the perps "thought" his D.C. license plate meant that he was one of President Johnson's Feds, there to cause trouble.
Let me say that again, he was killed because his license plate showed he wasn't local and the color of his skin while returning home from his responsibilities of serving his, our, and his murder's country.
There isn't a ton of deep diving into the information like there might be in a book published today, but that is part of its strength. It's brevity still covers all of the bases, including what happened to the men charged in the years after and leading up to their death. However, it didn't get me as fired up as many more current books tend to do. It didn't and won't haunt me like [b:The Blood of Emmett Till|30753852|The Blood of Emmett Till|Timothy B. Tyson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474198979s/30753852.jpg|51302259] continues to do, even though I read it way back in January.
Still, when you think about the period it was originally written, 1981, it's message was huge, unique, and very needed. All of the current books owe Bill Shipp a bit for being one of the first authors to stand up and say, this isn't right and you need to learn why.
stacialithub's review
4.0
This short book is not a work of literature, nor is it extremely detailed in all the facets regarding the murder & various trials that took place afterward. In those respects, it sometimes feels thin on content. But, perhaps the content is not there to be had anymore?
Regardless, it seemed like required reading for me, especially on the heels of [b:Darktown|27274326|Darktown (Darktown, #1)|Thomas Mullen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471854756s/27274326.jpg|47328159] and [b:Lightning Men|32895284|Lightning Men (Darktown, #2)|Thomas Mullen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1505139262s/32895284.jpg|53509227] (about the first black police officers in Atlanta, starting in 1948 & moving into 1950).
Sadly, this feels like a morality tale completely relevant for today. Still.
Regardless, it seemed like required reading for me, especially on the heels of [b:Darktown|27274326|Darktown (Darktown, #1)|Thomas Mullen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471854756s/27274326.jpg|47328159] and [b:Lightning Men|32895284|Lightning Men (Darktown, #2)|Thomas Mullen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1505139262s/32895284.jpg|53509227] (about the first black police officers in Atlanta, starting in 1948 & moving into 1950).
Sadly, this feels like a morality tale completely relevant for today. Still.
bookdeviant's review
3.0
I would like to thank the University of Georgia Press for allowing me to have a copy of this book via NetGalley.
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I have many conflicting thoughts on this novel. In the end, it's really just an average novel, nothing too impressive, and, despite my initial interest, it really wasn't that interesting.
Murder at Broad River Bridge focuses on the civil rights issues during the time period, but one of my biggest issues with this book is how it brushes over these important problems. Shipp would speak on the issues on how it related in Georgia, but he never went on to explain anything else. It felt like he was dismissing the importance. Shipp brushed over basically anything and everything that was included, so it was basically like getting a short overview of the events, rather than getting a detailed account.
While I appreciated some of the proclamations denouncing the KKK in this book, it ultimately amounted to nothing. Having those proclamations in the introduction, only to have the epilogue say why our country would never get rid of the KKK and white supremacists felt counter-productive. I know that it's non-fiction, but it could have at least ended on a hopeful note for things to get better, rather than comparing the KKK to a cancer returning from remission at full force. (Not a joke.)
There were phrases that were repeated often, like Shipp forgot what he had previously written, and the book was so short that I don't think it even hit the 100 page mark. Considering the proclamations in the beginning taking up 10 pages, as well as the long epilogue, it's almost like Shipp was looking to make a grand statement rather than educate.
Another small thing that really bothered me was a certain wording in the epilogue. Shipp describes the KKK as "coming out of the closet" and, while it's a common phrase, it hit me fairly hard that I had to stop reading. "Coming out of the closet" is a phrase commonly associated with the LGBT+ community, and having that phrase also used with the KKK, a gross, white supremacist group, hurt me. I don't want anything in the LGBT+ community to be associated with them, and that wording needs to be fixed.
three stars - Overall?
Shipp was probably hoping to document an important event in the history of the US and it's history with the KKK. However, he blithely brushed over the importance by not staying focused. The repetition of phrases only showed how much he really didn't pay attention. It could have been better, but it wasn't a terrible read that I regret entirely. It just could have been better thought out.
Would I Recommend?
I feel like there are better books out there to educate on murders during the civil rights era and the KKK. This book might be a good place to start, as there are further reading recommendations in the back, but I would definitely recommend reading more than just this.
Trigger warnings for murder, violence, racism, white supremacy, race violence, and the n-word slur.
See more of my reviews on my blog the Book Deviant
I have many conflicting thoughts on this novel. In the end, it's really just an average novel, nothing too impressive, and, despite my initial interest, it really wasn't that interesting.
Murder at Broad River Bridge focuses on the civil rights issues during the time period, but one of my biggest issues with this book is how it brushes over these important problems. Shipp would speak on the issues on how it related in Georgia, but he never went on to explain anything else. It felt like he was dismissing the importance. Shipp brushed over basically anything and everything that was included, so it was basically like getting a short overview of the events, rather than getting a detailed account.
While I appreciated some of the proclamations denouncing the KKK in this book, it ultimately amounted to nothing. Having those proclamations in the introduction, only to have the epilogue say why our country would never get rid of the KKK and white supremacists felt counter-productive. I know that it's non-fiction, but it could have at least ended on a hopeful note for things to get better, rather than comparing the KKK to a cancer returning from remission at full force. (Not a joke.)
There were phrases that were repeated often, like Shipp forgot what he had previously written, and the book was so short that I don't think it even hit the 100 page mark. Considering the proclamations in the beginning taking up 10 pages, as well as the long epilogue, it's almost like Shipp was looking to make a grand statement rather than educate.
Another small thing that really bothered me was a certain wording in the epilogue. Shipp describes the KKK as "coming out of the closet" and, while it's a common phrase, it hit me fairly hard that I had to stop reading. "Coming out of the closet" is a phrase commonly associated with the LGBT+ community, and having that phrase also used with the KKK, a gross, white supremacist group, hurt me. I don't want anything in the LGBT+ community to be associated with them, and that wording needs to be fixed.
three stars - Overall?
Shipp was probably hoping to document an important event in the history of the US and it's history with the KKK. However, he blithely brushed over the importance by not staying focused. The repetition of phrases only showed how much he really didn't pay attention. It could have been better, but it wasn't a terrible read that I regret entirely. It just could have been better thought out.
Would I Recommend?
I feel like there are better books out there to educate on murders during the civil rights era and the KKK. This book might be a good place to start, as there are further reading recommendations in the back, but I would definitely recommend reading more than just this.
Trigger warnings for murder, violence, racism, white supremacy, race violence, and the n-word slur.
chewdigestbooks's review
4.0
This is a reprint of the 1981 book of the same name, FYI. It gives a brief account of the 1964 murder of Lieutenant Colonel Lemuel Penn near Athens, Georgia and the court cases that followed.
It turns my stomach that Penn was only in Georgia to do his reserve service at Fort Benning. He was serving his bloody country and was murdered because the perps "thought" his D.C. license plate meant that he was one of President Johnson's Feds, there to cause trouble.
Let me say that again, he was killed because his license plate showed he wasn't local and the color of his skin while returning home from his responsibilities of serving his, our, and his murder's country.
There isn't a ton of deep diving into the information like there might be in a book published today, but that is part of its strength. It's brevity still covers all of the bases, including what happened to the men charged in the years after and leading up to their death. However, it didn't get me as fired up as many more current books tend to do. It didn't and won't haunt me like [b:The Blood of Emmett Till|30753852|The Blood of Emmett Till|Timothy B. Tyson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474198979s/30753852.jpg|51302259] continues to do, even though I read it way back in January.
Still, when you think about the period it was originally written, 1981, it's message was huge, unique, and very needed. All of the current books owe Bill Shipp a bit for being one of the first authors to stand up and say, this isn't right and you need to learn why.
It turns my stomach that Penn was only in Georgia to do his reserve service at Fort Benning. He was serving his bloody country and was murdered because the perps "thought" his D.C. license plate meant that he was one of President Johnson's Feds, there to cause trouble.
Let me say that again, he was killed because his license plate showed he wasn't local and the color of his skin while returning home from his responsibilities of serving his, our, and his murder's country.
There isn't a ton of deep diving into the information like there might be in a book published today, but that is part of its strength. It's brevity still covers all of the bases, including what happened to the men charged in the years after and leading up to their death. However, it didn't get me as fired up as many more current books tend to do. It didn't and won't haunt me like [b:The Blood of Emmett Till|30753852|The Blood of Emmett Till|Timothy B. Tyson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474198979s/30753852.jpg|51302259] continues to do, even though I read it way back in January.
Still, when you think about the period it was originally written, 1981, it's message was huge, unique, and very needed. All of the current books owe Bill Shipp a bit for being one of the first authors to stand up and say, this isn't right and you need to learn why.
brittski's review
4.0
Wow. This book could not be published at a better time. I don't really want to get into anything political on here, but I just finished reading this only days after the protests and riots in Charlottesville. It's refreshing to look back on history and events to get a better perspective on the present.
Murder at Broad River Bridge is a look at the murder of Lemuel Penn in Athens Georgia on July 11, 1964. Lemuel was a serviceman returning home from training with two fellow servicemen. They stopped to get gas in Athens, and switched drivers shortly after. While taking a short cut to South Carolina, a white chevy pulled up beside them and fired two shots, killing Lemuel. This is a look at the events leading up to the murder and what happened afterward.
Race. That seems to be the hot topic of late, all over social media and everywhere you turn. It's important to not forget who you are and where you came from. For myself personally, My great grandparents were on a boat from Poland waiting for admittance into the US. They then had to stay on Ellis Island to learn English and soon started working in the steel factories in Pennsylvania. World War II is what brought my ancestors here. History and heritage is important.
I did not know who Lemuel Penn was or that the KKK was so actively involved in the South during the 1960s. And I say that honestly. I am so glad that I read this. It's a small piece of history that seems to have gotten lost. We shouldn't lose our history. Every piece is important.
"Such a marker [is] necessary, one supporter argued, because if people [don't] understand the past, they [will] be more likely to repeat it."
This quote is taken from the forward by Renee C. Romano, and it cannot be more true. Have we not learned from the Civil War or WWII? If people do not understand history, they are doomed to repeat it. And Murder at Broad River Bridge will help recall all the violence and brutality and injustice that happened back then into the minds of people of the present today.
My heart ache throughout this book for all the harm that was caused to so many people. We are all human. Why can't we treat each other as such.
Murder at Broad River Bridge by Bill Shipp is such an eye opener into the past and it really helped me to understand the importance of history and what happened in the deep South in the 1960s.
Murder at Broad River Bridge is a look at the murder of Lemuel Penn in Athens Georgia on July 11, 1964. Lemuel was a serviceman returning home from training with two fellow servicemen. They stopped to get gas in Athens, and switched drivers shortly after. While taking a short cut to South Carolina, a white chevy pulled up beside them and fired two shots, killing Lemuel. This is a look at the events leading up to the murder and what happened afterward.
Race. That seems to be the hot topic of late, all over social media and everywhere you turn. It's important to not forget who you are and where you came from. For myself personally, My great grandparents were on a boat from Poland waiting for admittance into the US. They then had to stay on Ellis Island to learn English and soon started working in the steel factories in Pennsylvania. World War II is what brought my ancestors here. History and heritage is important.
I did not know who Lemuel Penn was or that the KKK was so actively involved in the South during the 1960s. And I say that honestly. I am so glad that I read this. It's a small piece of history that seems to have gotten lost. We shouldn't lose our history. Every piece is important.
"Such a marker [is] necessary, one supporter argued, because if people [don't] understand the past, they [will] be more likely to repeat it."
This quote is taken from the forward by Renee C. Romano, and it cannot be more true. Have we not learned from the Civil War or WWII? If people do not understand history, they are doomed to repeat it. And Murder at Broad River Bridge will help recall all the violence and brutality and injustice that happened back then into the minds of people of the present today.
My heart ache throughout this book for all the harm that was caused to so many people. We are all human. Why can't we treat each other as such.
Murder at Broad River Bridge by Bill Shipp is such an eye opener into the past and it really helped me to understand the importance of history and what happened in the deep South in the 1960s.
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