Anthony S. Pitch is the author of
The Last Lynching: How a Gruesome Mass Murder Rocked a Small Georgia Town. From his Q & A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: Why did you decide to write a book about this lynching case, which took place in rural Georgia in 1946, and how did you research the book?
A: I have wanted to write about a lynching - the murder by mob action without a trial - since 1998. However, I never found enough documentation to research until six years ago, when I began this book.
That was when I got about 10,000 classified papers from the FBI and the National Archives, mainly through the Freedom of Information Act. I was also astounded that one of the victims was a veteran of World War II.
Writing about a mass lynching would pit innocents against vigilantes, show the horrors of rogue actions, expose corrupt juries, and record for posterity an evil slice of American history.
Q: The case you write about still hasn’t been solved. Do you have suspicions about what unfolded, and do you think more information will ever come out?
A: The case...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue
Anthony S. Pitch is the author of The Last Lynching: How a Gruesome Mass Murder Rocked a Small Georgia Town. From his Q & A with Deborah Kalb: