{"product_id":"9780062561145","title":"The Lynching","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Kennedy Women\u003c\/em\u003e chronicles the powerful and spellbinding true story of a brutal race-based killing in 1981 and subsequent trials that undid one of the most pernicious organizations in American history—the Ku Klux Klan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn a Friday night in March 1981 Henry Hays and James Knowles scoured the streets of Mobile in their car, hunting for a black man. The young men were members of Klavern 900 of the United Klans of America. They were seeking to retaliate after a largely black jury could not reach a verdict in a trial involving a black man accused of the murder of a white man. The two Klansmen found nineteen-year-old Michael Donald walking home alone. Hays and Knowles abducted him, beat him, cut his throat, and left his body hanging from a tree branch in a racially mixed residential neighborhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArrested, charged, and convicted, Hays was sentenced to death—the first time in more than half a century that the state of Alabama sentenced a white man to death for killing a black man. On behalf of Michael’s grieving mother, Morris Dees, the legendary civil rights lawyer and cofounder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a civil suit against the members of the local Klan unit involved and the UKA, the largest Klan organization. Charging them with conspiracy, Dees put the Klan on trial, resulting in a verdict that would level a deadly blow to its organization.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on numerous interviews and extensive archival research, \u003cem\u003eThe Lynching\u003c\/em\u003e brings to life two dramatic trials, during which the Alabama Klan’s motives and philosophy were exposed for the evil they represent. In addition to telling a gripping and consequential story, Laurence Leamer chronicles the KKK and its activities in the second half the twentieth century, and illuminates its lingering effect on race relations in America today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Lynching\u003c\/em\u003e includes sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Laurence Leamer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46899339296917,"sku":"9780062561145","price":46.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0484\/3175\/9509\/files\/9780062561145_794d3737-f360-46e4-84af-d615acdeb776.jpg?v=1776888605","url":"https:\/\/harpercollins.com.au\/products\/9780062561145","provider":"HarperCollins AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}