Introduction
This book is characterized by a horrific mystery that makes it very fascinating and thrilling for the audience. In the book, Laura Wexler gives a detailed insight on lynching, which was so rampant in 1946. As she describes the events that took place, Wexler connects with the readers by capturing their emotions. She describes how some armed men showed up and gunshots were heard killing four people, two young men, and two young women. This is the highest number of people to have ever died on the same day before and even after this particular incident. The incident that took place in rural Walton County was significant to the civil rights activists.
The killings were as brutal as the author of the book emphasizes noting that it motivated president Harry Truman to prioritize human rights and include this issue in his national agenda. Wexler has displayed her expertise in journalism in the presentation of lynchings that almost polarized the government. In her views on events, she presents the research in a way that displays her as a great novelist and an authoritative historian. This event led to a great investigation conducted by the FBI as she asserts, leading us through an explicit display of real perpetrators and the sources of information given by her. She passionately explores the events of Georgia in 1946 owing to the event’s landmark portraits, which tainted the image of the government.
Scope of the book
In general, it suffices to say that the book is more inclined towards exploring the impacts and effects of the Georgia lynching on the present day. The criminals who committed the crime were wanted and arrest warrants had been issued. To emphasize her agitation and sorrow about the lynching that took place that day, the author chose the title ‘fire in a canebrake’. The title is a figurative expression used locally in Georgia as a way to explain what happened on that day. Therefore, from the title of the book, a reader can accurately form an idea of what the book is all about which is a good and catchy way of captivating the reader’s attention. The phrase is used to keep in memory those people that were affected by the looting, raping, and political violence during the early 1940s.
Simple and precise
The book has some commendable historic material that makes its content very exciting and easy to read. It gives the author’s reaction to the events. Compared to other historical books in the market today, Wexler’s “Fire in a Canebrake” is one of the best and well-researched works of historical accounts. Her book is not very broad in its discussion about the history of America, which makes it very simple and easy for the reader. As for the study of the relationship among the American races, this book provides better insight. Owing to the flow of events in the book, one can only credit it as one of the best existing books that have attempted to give an insight on the Moore’s Ford execution in the year 1946.
The best thing about this book is that it rekindles an almost forgotten case in the reader’s mind reminding them where we have come from as a nation. Wexler reports very detailed information concerning the past, in particular, the Georgia of 1946. Her report is displayed in a manner that shows intense fear which she has managed to create and to show exactly how the day was. She documents a shooting experience that happened that day with a record of 60 gunshots to lynch innocent lives. The book emotionally brings this effect to the reader’s mind to help him or her grasp fully the real terrifying situation on that day.
Case uniqueness
Although several lynchings had taken place in the early 1940s, this particular one was unique as presented by Wexler because it had an extra characteristic: it was racially biased. The murdered fellows were members of the black community as mentioned earlier. The entire book revolves around the murders of four young people, which sparked quite a heated debate even among the public at that time. The author’s way of discussing the injustices experienced by the black minority is commendable because she does that without criminalizing anybody hence creating a balanced and proper understanding.
Research credibility
No doubt, the author has done her research vehemently for her to come up with such information as she has provided. She gives all perspectives in the killings that a reader can easily tell and decide instances that were devoid of justice. Her character as a thorough reporter has worked very well in this book. Being a good reporter means fact-finding, and the information in this book is so intensive to have been collected randomly without a validity check. Her presentation of the events that took place that day gives the reader a first-hand experience of the atrocities and condemns those actions completely. Nonetheless, apart from giving a first-class experience to the readers, the book also helps us rebuke such actions and to be vigilant in the future to avoid a recurrence.
Wexler portrays the cases of the victims in a way that shows abject poverty through archival reports as well as first-hand interviews which gives her work further credibility. She offers very passionate and fresh approaches to looking into the details of the victims’ deaths. She also succeeds in making people close to the perpetrators of the brutal killings contribute to the debate after decades of silence and shock. Before the release of this book, people close to the murderers had never spoken about these killings, which gives Wexler a cutting edge as an investigative and serious reporter. The author managed to unearth very fresh information on a case that had been forgotten and unresolved.
Conclusion
In my opinion, this book is a very comprehensive collection of American history facts about violence and racism. I believe the author has put up a case worth revisiting to ensure justice is done for the families of the victims. I commend her for the prudent move to find information in credible sources hence avoiding innuendo and rumors that could have easily discredited her work. She has succeeded in catching the public attention by bringing up a story that is known little about. However, her success is fuelled by the way she has helped the reader fit into the victim’s position hence sparking varying reactions. Any person who is interested in learning about the effects of lynching on the American population must read this book.
References
Wexler, Laura. Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.