{"product_id":"portrait-of-a-racist-the-man-who-killed-medgar-evers-9780312093655","title":"Portrait of a Racist: The Man Who Killed Medgar Evers?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePortrait of a Racist: The Man Who Killed Medgar Evers?\u003c\/strong\u003e by Massengill, Reed. Hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780312093655.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dark story of a white supremacists life - fully revealed in a compelling, richly detailed biography that only an insider could tell.\nOne of the most tragic and notorious murders of the 1960s was the assassination of Medgar Evers, the revered Mississippi NAACP leader, in June of 1963. The slaying of Evers not only galvanized the civil rights movement in the South, but it later had an unspeakably profound effect on one young man. Although no one in his family would tell him the truth, this young man knew that hidden away in the shadows of deep family secrets, there was a story waiting to be told. It had something to do with Everss death and something to do with his uncle - and it interested him from a very early age. In this way began an extraordinary search, seven years in the making, for a very personal kind of justice. Portait of a Racist: The Man Who Killed Medgar Evers? is author Reed Massengills relentless quest to unearth the truth about his own uncle - Byron De La Beckwith - the notorious white supremacist and alleged assassin of Medgar Evers.\nThis is an astonishing biography of a man consumed with racial hatred, who believes in his God-given mission to uphold the racial purity of the old-plantation South. Although the case of Everss murder has not yet been formally solved, and Beckwiths two previous murder trials in 1964 - both decided by all-white, all-male juries - ended in mistrials, it is still widely believed that Beckwith is Everss killer. In December 1990, Beckwith was again charged with the murder, after a lengthy and remarkable investigation uncovered new evidence against him. He is expected to be tried for a third time on a charge of first-degree murder.\nStill insisting on his own innocence, Beckwith has communicated through letters with hiw nephew for more than six years. Along with Beckwiths correspondence, Massengill has conducted numerous interviews, with people who knew Beckwith. Much of Massengills extensive research includes personal interviews, with his aunt, who was Beckwiths first wife, Mary Louise Williams (known as Willie). In this book, \"Willie,\" who was married to and divorced from Beckwith three separate times, comes forward to tell of her relationship with Beckwith, which was often physically abusive.\nMassengill has courageously uncovered revelations of which not even Beckwith himself is aware. From Beckwiths birth to a mother who could not accept the demise of the antebellum South, to his upbringing as an orphan in the Mississippi Delta, Portrait of a Racist presents a mesmerizingly detailed biography of Beckwith and probes the psychological makeup of a mind turned to racial hatred, making it both a compelling biography and a lasting work of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"St Martins Pr","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44988052373557,"sku":"ByrdShop_0312093659","price":34.32,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780312093655_261a53b0-8a10-4a47-b2dc-68cba77f6e48.jpg?v=1778919601","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/portrait-of-a-racist-the-man-who-killed-medgar-evers-9780312093655","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}