frannieman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Police brutality
karimorton33's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, wow. I really appreciated the in-depth look this book took at one county in Georgia and the recent history of black people (or the lack of black people) there. It's hard for me to imagine people treating other people like this, and especially the more recent part in chapter 16 and on (1980s) where the citizens of Forsyth County still wanted to maintain the white-only population and took pleasure in almost killing a man because he dared to have fun in "their" town. This book really depicted and reiterated that changing the law is not enough to really change how things are. The more current white people of Forsyth county had no reason to keep the area segregated other than "this is all we know", which is just ridiculous and definitely is not a valid reason to keep the status quo. And really, the pushing out of the black population didn't have a valid reason for happening either, it seemed to just be mob mentality. I just can't understand how people can so violently hate another group of people just based on their skin colour, but I feel like this book accurately showed that deep seated hate that has lasted for centuries. A great, but infuriating, read!
pleoniesmith's review against another edition
4.0
Every thought that I have post my reading of this book is incendiary.
arixen's review against another edition
5.0
This book was difficult. It wasn’t a difficult read as the author did well at his craft. It was difficult because of the subject. I think many people fail to recognize that this racial divide is so fresh. Furthermore, I don’t think it is OK for an entire county to purge not only its Native American population in the 1800’s then knowing that they could do it to African Americans in the 1900’s and there was no remorse from the people of the county. When forced to stop their running off of anyone who wasn’t white, they stuck up their noses and pretended that they had never been arguably the biggest hotbed of white supremacists in the south as the entire county seemed to either be culpable or turned their backs when the culprits were beating and killing anyone not white. I think this book should be read by everyone. We fail to recognize that this county was still barring anyone not white in 1987. This is MY life time. This is NOW. This is REAL. And this is why we need to recognize that BLACKLIVESMATTER. Because an entire county let alone other cities around the US harbored this deep rooted racism that doesn’t just disappear overnight.
“The further one gets from 1912, the more frequently whites have tried to deflect attention away from the county's long history of bigotry by pointing to a specific group: the Ku Klux Klan. It's easy to understand the appeal of such an argument, since it exonerates the ordinary 'people of the county' from wrongdoing during the expulsions and implies that they themselves were the victims of an invasion by hooded, cross-burning white supremacists. The only trouble is that in the America of 1912, there was no such thing as the KKK.”
“The further one gets from 1912, the more frequently whites have tried to deflect attention away from the county's long history of bigotry by pointing to a specific group: the Ku Klux Klan. It's easy to understand the appeal of such an argument, since it exonerates the ordinary 'people of the county' from wrongdoing during the expulsions and implies that they themselves were the victims of an invasion by hooded, cross-burning white supremacists. The only trouble is that in the America of 1912, there was no such thing as the KKK.”
missamandamae's review against another edition
5.0
Being from north Georgia, I was anxious to read this book about a county in north Georgia that drove off all the black residents and was "white only" for decades -- until another bout of racial insanity in the late 80s. The author lived with his family in the county during the civil rights march of 1987, and his parents and sister marched in it. This is his attempt at tracing how this area got so heated and bigoted.
When he recounted the history of lynching in this country, and highlighted a few particularly gruesome stories, I had to put the book down for a little bit. It was so horrific to me. You think you've heard how bigoted and torturous people can be to each other, and then you read about a lynching. And since some of this history happened within my lifetime, it's terrifying to think that there are people around me who likely feel the same way some of these white supremacists thought.
Excellent piece of local history, and a book that will give you pause -- especially if you're in the South.
When he recounted the history of lynching in this country, and highlighted a few particularly gruesome stories, I had to put the book down for a little bit. It was so horrific to me. You think you've heard how bigoted and torturous people can be to each other, and then you read about a lynching. And since some of this history happened within my lifetime, it's terrifying to think that there are people around me who likely feel the same way some of these white supremacists thought.
Excellent piece of local history, and a book that will give you pause -- especially if you're in the South.
rseelig's review against another edition
4.0
The author grew up in an all-white county outside Atlanta, a demographic phenomenon that was the result of a reign of terror that literally drove the black community at least across the river. He tells the story of the events that preceded this racist ‘cleansing’ and the erasure that followed allowing descendants to absolve themselves.
This was not a story I had learned of before. This county, it turns out was settled by Oglethorpe and his debtors, which makes it at least plausible that relatives on my grandfather’s side were complicit in these horrendous acts. What is bone chilling, in addition to finding this personal connection, is that it feels we have hardly made progress with elected officials today just as willing to enable violence against black people as the sheriff in this county did over a hundred years ago (he was found on a later list of KKK members). Too familiar, and depressing.
This was not a story I had learned of before. This county, it turns out was settled by Oglethorpe and his debtors, which makes it at least plausible that relatives on my grandfather’s side were complicit in these horrendous acts. What is bone chilling, in addition to finding this personal connection, is that it feels we have hardly made progress with elected officials today just as willing to enable violence against black people as the sheriff in this county did over a hundred years ago (he was found on a later list of KKK members). Too familiar, and depressing.
wah38's review against another edition
5.0
When you think of white terror in Georgia, your first thought is probably Stone Mountain, GA and its ties to the Klan (not to mention the Confederates carved into the mountain). But this book shows that the Klan were and are a symptom of whiteness generally. The Klan had been gone for 40 years when the whites in Forsyth County lynched several random black folks, and then executed others in a show trial to start a complete removal of all the black residents. 70 years later, things hadn't changed in Forsyth County, but not because of the Klan or the White Citizens Councils. It is the individual white folks who didn't stand up to the racial terrorism in their community who were ultimately responsible for the state of Forsyth County. The most dangerous white folks in Forsyth County didn't wear masks; they didn't have to.
techwoo's review against another edition
4.0
It's not correct to say that I liked this book, but it is very well written and very important book, although after reading it my faith in humanity is seriously shaken...