Violation: Justice, Race and Serial Murder in the Deep South

Columbus, Georgia has been run by the same tiny clique for over 100 years -- the members of the all-white Big Eddy Club. This is the story of a fascinating and rotten community whose victims pay the ultimate price. An atmospheric tale of murder, lynchings and the workings of justice in the hothouse of the American South, set in a beautiful, apparently tranquil community where bigotry and ancient hatreds lie just beneath the surface. Columbus has one of the lowest crime rates in the US, yet has sentenced to death more people per head of population than anywhere in the US -- all of them black, almost all convicted of murdering white victims. Columbus, Georgia, is to all intents and purposes run by the all-white members of the Big Eddy Club and has been for the past three generations. Almost everything that happens in Columbus is worked out in the confines of the racially and socially exclusive club and the same individuals and families crop up at every twist and turn of Columbus' history. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the cases of two black men: Simon Adams, who was lynched and murdered after breaking into a judge's house in June 1900; and Carlton Gary who sits, 100 years later, on Georgia's death row for a series of murders many people believe he did not commit, a victim of lynching by due process. What links the fate of these men is the Big Eddy Club -- the same family names appear in both cases. Uncovering the connections between the fate of Carlton Gary and the terrible events of the past reveals some important truths about America which many would like to stay hidden. David Rose intends to expose them and, if possible, to prove Gary's innocence.

About the Author :
David Rose, who now writes for The Observer and Vanity Fair, has worked at Time Out, the Guardian and BBC television, and has investigated wrongful convictions since the early 1980s. A Climate of Fear was described as 'the best account of a miscarriage of justice written yet.' His other books include In the Name of the Law, Regions of the Heart and Guantanamo: America's War on Human Rights. He is a past winner of the Royal Institute of International Affairs David Watt Memorial Prize, the Bar Council's Legal Reporter of the Year award and the One World-European Union award for human rights journalism.

Review :
'Rose writes eloquently!expertly unpicks the prosecution's line!stunning!this is a dazzlingly reported, supremely elegant book of scholarly confidence.' The Observer 'Rose has fashioned a persuasive narrative of the iniquities of the American criminal justice system as well as a vivid account of the social and racial backdrop to the legal saga.' The Times 'A gripping and brilliant piece of reporting that both lays bare an appalling miscarriage of justice and exposes its origins in the tortured history of the South. I could not put it down.' Sister Helen Prejean, author of 'Dead Man Walking'