Fantastic. As I was reading this, I thought “oh THIS is what the crazy, ignorant parents and politicians spouting off about “CRT” don’t want taught in classrooms”…and yet it should. What a shameful, disgusting history we have in this country. It’s hard to reconcile but it’s crucial we learn it and share it. What a well-written, powerful book.

When Wright Thompson says a book is great, you read it. And A Shot in the Moonlight lives up to such a loft recommendation. Not just very readable and a compelling story, it provides important context for our country's ongoing racial struggles.

I actually give this book 3.5 stars but rounded up. Here’s the reason:

Though the story is very compelling in the beginning and end, the middle of the book seems like it can be covered in the span of a New Yorker article. It unfortunately is not surprising all the violent racist behavior that plagued the civil war era. The lynchings and systematic racism is disturbing, but I’m not sure it needs the multiple examples as laid out in the novel in order to get the point across. That said, it is very well written - so even though I thought it was going nowhere further than outlined on the covers subtitle, the authors style kept me fully engrossed (hence a 4 instead of a 3.5).

As we discover toward the end of the book, the distinction between this horrendously racist journey and others is the precedent that was set. I won’t spoil it here but I am surprised the incident hasn’t been passed down to the elementary school history books.

We have an ugly past in this country. The author does a stellar job painting the picture of that ugliness and the struggle for a lower castes truth to over power the upper castes lies.

#netgalley #ashotinthemoonlight

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A Shot in the Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South by Ben Montgomery tells the true story of George Dinning, a freed slave in the American South and the way he made history. Mr. Montgomery is an award winning reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist.

This was one of these books that you find once in a while which you simply cannot put down. Mr. Montgomery knows how to tell a story, building a narrative, and tension while keeping the narrative flowing.

A Shot in the Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South by Ben Montgomery follows a freed slave, George Dinning, an honest, hardworking family man by all accounts. Mr. Dinning lives in Kentucky, the Jim Crow South, and prospering via his work ethic, brains, and good nature. One evening a mob comes to his farm demanding he’d leave town or be lynched. Mr. Dinning was accused of stealing meat and burning a smokehouse – with absolutely no evidence and no history of doing anything even remotely close. The mob shot at the house, Mr. Dinning returned fire and killed one of them, a prosperous white man.

Mr. Dinning, not a stupid man by any means, rode miles away and handed himself into a sheriff he knew would try to protect him. This was dangerous as law men were intimidated by mobs and often gave into lynching to save their own skins. His case would have to be tried in federal court though, since he didn’t have any rights in Kentucky to sue white people. Mr. Dinning made history by being the first freed slave to successfully fight his would be white killers.

The research Mr. Montgomery has put into this book is impressive, the writing even more so. As a true reporter, the author relies on first-hand accounts, while describing the far reaching implications for Kentucky, African-Americans, and the nation as a while.

This book has many fascinating characters, George Dinning of course, but also his lawyer Bennett H. Young. Mr. Young was a man of contradictions. A Confederated soldier, who simultaneously fought for the erection of Confederate monuments, while at the same time operating charities to help the African-American community as well as working pro-bono in the courts, being viewed as a friend for the community.

A fantastic book, telling an amazing story of an important chapter in American history. An important book to read, especially at these trying times.

A fascinating book about former slave George Dinning's arrest, trial and acquittal in Kentucky during the late 1800's.
It seems impossible that a black man during this time period would get a fair trial nonetheless get set free, and what makes it even more incredible was the number of white men that helped make this happen. The book used a contained a number of court transcripts to tell the story and that was interesting also. It really put the reader right in the courtroom to follow along with the trial.
All and all a very well researched and very interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

A Shot in the Moonlight follows the story of former slave, George Dinning, and his trial against the mob that tried to murder him in Jim Crow South. Along the way he finds allies in some unexpected places, from the sheriff of the county, to Bennett Young, his lawyer, to the Governor of Kentucky. I had a hard time putting this one down. The tension throughout the story kept me turning the pages. The Dinning case was the first of its kind in the South. A freed slave successfully fights his would be lynchers and wins in federal court. The amount of research Ben Montgomery had to do is pretty impressive. The fact that were so many first hand accounts just goes to show how much of an impact this case had on the nation. I also found the dichotomy of his Confederate veteran lawyer to be interesting. Here is a man who fought for the South in the war, then fought for statues of Confederate soldiers to be erected, while at the same time funded and helped operate multiple charities and foundations to help the Black community. He took on cases for many Black people, including George Dinning, for free, and was viewed as a friend by the Black community in Kentucky. This is definitely worth the read, if for no other reason then it shows how much has changed, and also just how little has changed.

One night around midnight, George Dinning's house is surrounded by a gang of white men who shoot into his house, and in return, Dinning fires back and kills one of the white gang members. "A Shot in the Moonlight" details Dinning's trial and the efforts of one side to get him convicted through a false narrative of what really happened that night. On the flip side, through the trial and once Dinning is convicted, he finds many surprising allies that fight for his freedom. The amount of material that Ben Montgomery was able to access to tell this story is pretty amazing. The book is definitely worth a read.

A Shot in the Moonlight isn't in my normal genre for reading. I sometimes find true crime to be a bit drab or too heavy to enjoy. While the story is tragic, I felt moved by the injustice. I think it's important that we always try to expand our minds and learn from the past.