A review by frances_ab
The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NAACP by Alex Tresniowski

3.0

This could have been two separate books-one a story of the murder of a young girl and a private detective doing the job that should have been done by the police, one a look at the life and development of Ida B Wells, a famous crusader for the rights of African Americans and against lynching. Wells' history and actions were by far the more interesting part of this book, and by about 2/3 of the way through I was skipping over the murder investigation. Additionally, while the PI was definitely working hard to find the true guilty party and by extension to save the man who had been wrongly accused, his tactics were so egregious that I was left feeling quite conflicted about the whole process. There was great history in this book, but I would have preferred more emphasis on Wells and her work, and the development of the NAACP.