THE GHOSTS OF MEDGAR EVERS. The Tale of Race, Murder, Mississippi and Hollywood

Hardback. For years American author, Willie Morris has portrayed American life through lyrical evocations of his own experience. Now he brings together the harsh realities of race and the magical illusions of Hollywood in an unusual book about the making of the film 'Ghosts of Mississippi' and its more complicated historical background: the 1963 assassination of the courageous civil rights activist Medgar Evers and the conviction 30yrs. later of his killer, Byron De La Beckwith, in one of the most striking cases in the annals of American jurisprudence. The book is not only a dramatic account of the making of a major motion picture about one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th century, it is also an examination of the murder itself and the people involved that explains why it took so long for justice to prevail. The author was on hand for the trial and for the making of the film. He was present when the assassination was reenacted at the actual murder site, and on the Hollywood soundstages when the trial was filmed - re-creations that involved a number of participants in the original events, including 3 of Evers's children, who witnessed his death in 1963. With a Medgar Evans Reading List + Index. 288pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in f. dw.