This non-fiction book follows journalist Jerry Mitchell's quest to get several murder cases during the civil rights era to be reopened decades later. Ranging from the Mississippi Burning murders to Medgar Evers' death, Mitchell uncovers how several different murders were covered up or unfairly tried during the 1960s. It's a truly fascinating look at how some of the bravest people of that era were struck down and then how long it took for justice to be achieved (if it ever was).

I don't remember learning much about these crimes in school. Aside from Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, I don't recall my teachers ever talking about how many people were harassed, beaten, or killed simply for trying to register black Americans to vote (or merely for just existing). I also had no idea how wide-ranging the KKK's reach was during that era in the South, including impacting efforts to integrate. This is definitely a topic that should be taught in schools. Everyone should know this part of our history. Mitchell's afterword is particularly moving since he's able to connect this era with the recent Black Lives Matter movement.

Mitchell's writing is captivating, and I felt like I was reading a thriller at times. The pacing was perfect, and I really like how he divided the sections into the various cases that he ended up investigating. It was heart-wrenching to read pretty much the whole way through, but so enlightening and educational. A difficult book to read because of the terror that was perpetuated (and especially tough for a Jewish person with all the interviews with white supremacists) but nowhere near as hard as it would have been to experience any of the horror these people did.

This is really a sad book at least for me. For it took 41 years later for men who were involved in a murder to be brought to justice. Yet I don’t think it was justice for they were able to live and walk free for all of those years knowing they killed yet they believed that what they did was right.
Yet I commend the author Jerry Micthell for searching for the truth and bringing these men to justice after all of these years. Still, along the way, he was still being stopped and threatened by District Attorneys and other State people who had problems either finding records or allowing him to view records that were supposed to be open. These stories brought me back to my childhood and hearing about these on the news. Later I would read about them and some would have movies made about them. All were one thing hate, hate of one race against another yet these men would say they were Christian and go to church bullshit they were full of hate along with others and now there are others who probably won’t want people to read books like these yet this is just one of many that need to be read to see the hatred that was and is still out there and this was not that many years ago. Overall for me, this is a fantastic book and very much worth the read. I have read it twice now and will read it again as well. I thank the author for putting his life on the line to find the truth about these crimes.

Just could not get into this book, so I did not post a review. I don't like to DNF books, but there are so many great ones. Thanks for the opportunity.

J Mitchell faced many obstacles to write this book but was determined and steadfast. He worked hard over many years and left no clues uninspected to reach his goal: the trials and convictions of four evil men, and the gratitude of families and friends who had given up hope of ever seeing justice. JM tells us that these acts were propelled by the wants of a group of white men to rid their world of people of color. White men creating a worse world, no new story there.

3.5 stars Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book. Published Feb 2020.

Not realizing this was in my overdue list at NetGalley I picked up the audio version at the library. It is narrated by the author and his narration was very good.

This book is a nonfiction telling of four cold cases - all attached to the civil rights era. Also all attached to the Klu Klux Klan. It opens with the 1964 Mississippi Burning case of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi to give lectures who were chased down and killed in their car leaving town. No one was prosecuted for murder, in part due to an all white jury of men, a number of them being fellow Klansmen.

The book also details the murder of Medger Evers, the fire bombing and murder of Vernon Dahmers for recruiting African Americans to vote, and the death of four little black girls in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing - all of which were instigated by members of the Klan. It explains how the author Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter, found reports, secret documents, interviewed witnesses and even spoke with Klan members to uncover the truth of these four separate live changing civil rights atrocities. Then the book goes on to detail the justice brought about by Mitchell in these four legendary cases. Years after getting away with murder, a number of Klansmen were finally brought to justice and incarcerated for the brutal deaths they caused

It is a story told many times over but must continue to be told, even after justice has been served - or as much justice as possible anyway, which truthfully is still not enough. I can't imagine there is anyone unfamiliar with Mississippi Burning (from the US, anyway), but I will briefly summarize it anyway.

On the night of June 21st, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered by klansmen for their work in helping African Americans register to vote. The trio were stopped for speeding and taken to the local jail. After several hours the men were released. They'd not traveled far when they were again stopped. The three men were abducted at gun point, shot to death, and buried in a shallow grave. Their bodies would not be discovered for two months. Despite the fact that everyone knew who had committed the murders, no one was charged in the ensuing decades. These monsters thought they'd gotten away with murder like so many before and after them.

When investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell took on this giant, it would be his work that led to the reopening of the case, in addition to three others from the era: the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair; the assassination of Medgar Evers; and the murder of Vernon Dahmer.

Mitchell's attention was first drawn to the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during a viewing of the film "Mississippi Burning". The story goes that as he was watching, the man next to him repeatedly commented on things that were or were not accurate in the movie. Afterward they talked and Mitchell learned the man was Roy K. Moore, a retired FBI agent in charge of Mississippi when the murders took place. They joined in conversation with another retired FBI agent, as well a reporter who had originally covered the murders back in the '60s. Mitchell learned no one had been prosecuted and he could not fathom why. The identities of the men were widely known, yet the state had never acted. Even after one of the klansmen confessed, the GOVERNOR refused to let it be pursued it any further.

So, Mitchell got to work - and work it would be. The downside to investigating heinous crimes from earlier decades is the pesky fact he addresses with the very title of the book. He was in a literal race against time to uncover whatever he could in order for the families to seek justice; witnesses to the murders and the suspects themselves weren't getting any younger. And as always, with the passage of time goes one's memories. Yet Mitchell pressed on, getting whatever information he could to force the FBI to re-open the cases.

Mitchell's investigation brought new evidence to light as he and law enforcement agents also began combing through the old casefiles. He is the first to say he could not have done this on his own and it is true. So many were involved in propelling all four cases forward, though I think we can say that none of the murderers might have ever been brought to justice if not for the chance meeting between Mitchell and Moore the night of the premier.

The importance of this book can't be overstated. It is all the documentation one needs to see that even when it seems like there is no hope, all it takes sometimes is one person to change the course. You have to admire Mitchell's commitment; though the klan might be a little quieter now, it still exists. As a result, Mitchell received numerous death threats from the kkk. Not only that, but he was also uncovering a plethora of information that pointed (unsurprisingly) to the state's own involvement in obstructing investigations and covering up the crimes. Despite the danger in his work, Mitchell sought every last scrap of information he could find, interviewed many who would rather have seen their secrets stayed buried, and pursued the perpetrators relentlessly so that the families of the victims could finally come to some kind of peace knowing their loved ones had not died in vain, and that their stories would live on alongside the fact that these cowardly men who hid their faces would not escape justice after all.

Highly highly recommended.

Race Against Times follows Jerry Mitchell's reporting on unsolved murders from the Civil Rights Movement and the resulting court cases. Mitchell interviewed murderers, FBI agents and informers, and witnesses as he aided prosecutors in bringing these cold cases to court and back into public light.

Given the civil unrest this summer over the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, this book was especially poignant. Race Against Time demonstrates the complicity of the justice system and police in allowing white supremacists to get away with murder. This book gives me hope that justice will ultimately prevail, but Mitchell's accounts also show how embedded white supremacy is in the fabric of our nation and the difficulties of untethering from it.

Race Against Time is well-written and fans of courtroom drama and journalist accounts especially will find this a compelling read. After getting a third of the way through the book I found it impossible to put down. I highly recommend it.

A hard book to read, because it's a hard subject to relive. The sheer drama and horror that was the underside of the early-mid sixties Civil Rights movement often feels like part of the furniture when discussing "recent" American history... thanks Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Phil Ochs. But settling down with a book that actually explores and investigates actual cases... yeah, it's hard. But it's also fascinating, even idf the world does feel a little darker when you finish.

Special thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

This is a very well researched book. It is thrilling, maddening, and reads like a legal thriller. Lots of information, but it is told in a way that is really captivating, True crime addicts & history buffs will love this one.

Thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader.

A painful read, but a necessary one. It was incredibly researched and extremely readable -- I learned a lot. This is a must-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book that I feel everyone should read. It’s painful, poignant and insightful. The author did a wonderful job bringing each story to life through the details provided from the court records.

Mitchell’s descriptions of how each case made it to court after decades of cover-up mesmerizing and important to history. The infiltration of the judicial system by members of the KKK, jury and witness tampering, and racism leaves you feeling beyond uncomfortable.

I definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Memorable lines:

pg 55: “The state (Mississippi Sovereignty Commission) was after Medgar Evers for quite a while.” - Ken Lawrence, civil rights activist
“But what was the spy agency trying to accomplish?”
First, they had wanted any dirt they could get on Evers, hoping to find any excuse to lock him up or discredit him. Yet even after his assassination, they didn’t let up.
“They were helping out the defense,” Lawrence said. “Stanney Sanders the defense lawyer in the murder trial, contacted the Sovereignty commission for assistance. The commission checked out all these potential jurors. It did all it could to help Medgar Evers’ assassin get away with murder. Don’t you see? The state that was supposed to be prosecuting Byron De La Beckwith for the murder of Medgar Evers was secretly assisting his defense, trying to get him acquitted.”

pg 58: Bill Waller who had prosecuted the case as a district attorney sought to weed out as many racists as he could from the jury, asking the white men seated, “Do you think it’s a crime to kill a nigger?”

pg 62: ‘Why are you writing about the past?“
“Actually I’m writing about new things we’re learning about the past.”
“Why don’t you write about something going on right now?”
“It is going on right now. It’s news.”

pg 67: “It’s not illegal to check the background of jurors,” (Hinds county district attorney Ed Peters) said. “The question is if it amounted to an unfair trial.”

pg 76: The files showed how the papers (The Clarion Ledger and Jackson Daily News) worked hand in hand with segregationist leaders and the Sovereignty Commission..… The Ledger received a stream of spy reports….the commission convinced JDN to publish one of its reports verbatim, forcing a civil rights activist out of Mississippi…..the commission put a few black editors on the payroll, including Percy Greene, who operated the Jackson advocate. at the commission’s request, he printed one of their stories verbatim, linking MLK Jr. to communists. The Ledger then picked up that story as planned. “In this manner the story will be more effective because a Negro will be the author exposing the communist associations of other Negroes,” Erle Johnston wrote March 24, 1964.

White Citizens’ Council: the most powerful members of society - bank presidents, judges, lawyers, congressmen and other politicians - made up the council. (turned intoCouncil of Conservative Citizens by 80s)

pg 93: “If God does not punish you directly, several individuals will do it for him.” - Beckwith.

pg 102: “The gun is on his (Ed. Peters, DA) mantel, right next to a framed article from the Jackson Daily News” - law enforcement tipster in Signal Mountain

“Do you still have the gun?” Rejebian asked.
“No my brother-in-law came and got it.” Anthony Moore, Assist. City Attorney (whose father Judge Moore got the gun after it was no longer considered evidence)
“Who’s your brother-in-law?”
“Bobby DeLaughter.” (the chief prosecutor in the re-opened Evers’ case)

“I’m not going to say they were wrong. I don’t believe in murder. I believe in self-defense.” - Preacher Edgar Ray Killen, Neshoba county, Mississippi

Killen asked who killed (Martin Luther) King.
“Why do you want to know?” the agent asked.
“Man,” Killen replied, “I want to shake his hand.”

pg 292: The longer they waited, the more suspects and witnesses could die. The other day former Klansman turned FBI informant Ernest Gilbert had reeled off a long list of health woes he suffered from. This was indeed a race against time.

pg 319: Journalist David Halberstam saw the prosecution as a reckoning. “What cruelty is there to murder American kids, to murder them on American soil just because they want to register people to vote. That’s about as un-American as you can get. There’s something about a nation that allows that to happen. A nation that allows that to happen is not a decent nation.”

pg 320: “We are going to have a trial with twenty-three dead witnesses. The question is, will we also have a dead defendant?” Mitch Moran

pg 358: “No one would’ve known about James Chaney if he had been by himself.” - Ben Chaney


A few typos:
pg 39: chaney goodman and chaney

pg 46: he confirmed it was accurate (font should be bigger/ normal)

pg 52: 1947 when a New Yorker wrote a (‘the’ New Yorker)

pg 69: we talked a little about how our families. (about our families)

pg 108: carport (car porch)

I am so mad I didn’t know more about this until I read Mr. Mitchell’s book on the subject. I have lived in the South most of my life, but the violence during the Civil Rights era is still debated and discussed on one side or another. Jerry Mitchell points out that not all cases have happy endings, or even satisfying endings, like the indictments of those behind the murders of these remembered Civil Rights workers in the South, which took decades alone to prove due to regional fear and loyalty. Unfortunately, there will always be hatred of differences out there and the evidence to take it down will be a battle all on its own.

After the movie Mississippi Burning was released, Jerry Mitchell began a two-decade investigation into who killed the three Civil Rights workers. If you like John Grisham, you like this true-life accounting of what Mitchell went through to uncover the truth. He went up against strong segregation Mississippi politics to do it. This is what good investigative reporting is all about. He’s an example of why we should continue to fight for the reporter’s right to question power.

This was such an excellent read that held my attention the whole way through. It was very well researched and I learned so much. Definitely recommend this book! Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is a fantastic account of some of the cases dealing with the injustices doled out by by the Klansmen during the civil rights movement in the United States of America. At the time the perpetrators had gotten away with their heinous crimes but this book deals with how years later some of these cases were reopened, and reinvestigated with fresh eyes, bringing many criminals to justice. Some of these cases were the biggest of that era including the Mississippi Burning case and the assassination of Evers. Mitchell went to the core of the establishment and looked those killers in the eye. He is responsible for bringing some of the masterminds to justice, ensuring they are now locked up being bars for their crimes. This book was written with such precision. It is an excellent account of the lengths that some go to to hide their crimes, in the face of the law, how some think they are above the law, as well as the lengths others will go to to make sure they pay for what they did.

I found this book fascinating! Growing up in the South you always hear stories of the KKK. Jerry does a fantastic job of telling of several civil rights murders and the redemption that follows. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in true crime and has an interest in southern history.

Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell ended up being way better than I expected. I know that is written on real life situation but my goodness, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happens next. in the 1980s, as a reporter for the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, Mitchell decided to reinvestigate unsolved civil-rights-era murder cases, pursuing old leads, uncovering new evidence and publishing articles.

Mitchell takes you through 4 cases: the assassination of Medgar Evers, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala, the murder of Civil rights activists Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner and the murder of Vernon Dahmer Sr., an N.A.A.C.P. activist who fought to remove racist impediments to voting in Mississippi. All I can say is put on your seat belts because you are about to go on a ride.

If you are a fan of True Crime & thrillers, this is the book for you.
Thank you Simon & Schuster, for gifting this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review Overall this was a 4.5/5 star read.

OK...I dare you to listen to the free audio sample of this book and not be desperate to read or listen to the rest. It is read by the author, who grew up in the Deep South and recreates the accent and mannerisms of the unusual and often vile characters very well. I read the book first and thought it was extraordinary in many ways, but that audio sample was really really scary! Yikes!

The author, Jerry Mitchell, an investigative journalist, spent several decades investigating the murders of civil rights workers that occurred in the 1960s but were never successfully prosecuted because of the racism that permeated the society. His relentless efforts led to the cases being reopened. The story of how these decades-old murders were solved, the cases tried, and the KKK members who had gotten away with these murders finally brought to justice is fascinating. This eye-opening memoir is deeply moving, sometimes horrifying, and some parts strangely funny in a creepy sort of way. No matter how much you think you know about these murders, you will learn so much more.

If you read the glowing reviews in the front of the book by people like John Grisham, Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who played a major role in bringing these murderous cowards to justice, and the daughter of Medgar Evers, among others, you will be further convinced to make this a priority read.

Very highly recommended.

Many of us BabyBoomers achieved our majority during these crucial years - 1964-1976. It was a time of turmoil and change in the U.S. and the beginning of what is now a deeply held distrust of Washington DC officeholders. Jerry Mitchell is an excellent newspaper journalist - one who has always had the pulse of the U.S. citizens and has always told it like it is, regardless of whom it exposes or offends. This memoir too is cutting edge, an authentic look into racial divides in especially the south in this timeframe, and the lengths some prejudiced southerners were able to go to to keep the status quo. Generations of southern citizens willing to perpetuate Jim Crow ideology into each new generation of potential voters - white voters - borne to southern women, women almost as deeply sinned against at that time as were the Blacks and First Nation Citizens. A voiceless injustice that still prevails today in isolated places.

Race Against Time is an excellent reckoning of those crimes, those tumultuous times in the deep south. Mitchell follows the trials of the Klan members and even the odd policeman who was responsible for some of these atrocities - trials trailing 40 years after these hate crimes were committed. Many of the perpetrators had already died of old age before this light of enlightenment was shed on these crimes. We need to ensure that this sort of prejudice cannot happen in our children's time and their kid's generation as well. Please, get out there, and VOTE!
I received a free electronic copy of this memoir from Netgalley, Jerry Mitchell, and Simon&Schuster. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this work of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.