About the Author

Steve Oney was educated at the University of Georgia and at Harvard, where he was a Nieman Fellow. He worked for many years as a staff writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Magazine. He has also contributed articles to many national publications, including Esquire, Playboy, Premiere, GQ and the New York Times Magazine.His stories have been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, 2006 and The Best American Magazine Writing, 2008.Oney lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Madeline Stuart.

Reviews

“Brilliant. . . . Ninety years later, the tale of murder and revenge in Georgia still has the power to fascinate. . . . Intense, suspenseful.” –The Washington Post Book World

“A major achievement . . . A fine work of history.” –Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Compelling and relentlessly preoccupying. . . . Oney dapples his volume with vibrant, multihued street scenes and thumbnail portraits. You can almost hear the squealing brakes and clanging bells of the trolley cars outside the courtroom.” –The Houston Chronicle

“Invites comparison to Norman Mailer’s Executioner’s Song. The book packs a wallop at many levels, from the mythic Southern characters to the violent infrastructure of our cultural memory.” –The New York Times

“A grim and teeming ghost story. . . . A monumental folk parable of innocent suffering and a blind, brutal urge for retribution that passes finally into the simple, stark awe and pity of tragedy.” –The New York Review of Books

Adult/High School-At first glance, this account of the murder of a factory worker and the sensational trial of the man accused of the crime sounds suspiciously like many of the trials of recent history. What sets this "true crime" narrative apart is that the murder took place in 1913, the victim was 13 years old, and the Jewish man convicted was lynched after his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Anti-Semitism and racism clouded what should have been a search for truth. No modern-day trial could be more confusing than Leo Frank's as jurors were presented with often circumstantial evidence and heard contradictory testimony. Oney has written a thorough and riveting account of Mary Phagan's murder and the subsequent events. Black-and-white photos are included. There is much to discuss and to consider after reading this book.-Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

The 1913 lynching of Leo Frank is one of the most sensational and resonant incidents in U.S. criminal and legal history, and a touchstone of American anti-Semitism. Frank, a Northern Jew, was the manager of an Atlanta, Ga., pencil factory where 13-year-old Mary Phagan worked and was brutally murdered. After he was charged with the crime and arrested, Frank's religion and ethnicity were an unarticulated but central theme of the dramatic, two-year-long trial that garnered worldwide attention. Frank was convicted of Phagan's murder and sentenced to death, but the governor commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Georgians' anti-Semitism then reached a fever pitch, and Frank was dragged from his prison cell by a lynch mob and hanged near Phagan's hometown. Since then the Leo Frank case has become an emblem of American intolerance, inspiring a 1937 Hollywood movie, They Won't Forget, and a 1998 Broadway musical, Parade. Surprisingly, though, the Frank case has generated very few works of political or cultural analysis, an exception being Leonard Dinnerstein's The Leo Frank Case, originally published in 1968 and reissued in a slightly revised edition in 1986. Oney's is the best book on the subject to date. Oney, who spent years as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has written not only the definitive account of the murder, trial and lynching but also a stirring, eminently readable, and thrilling narrative. Oney has read extensively through court transcripts, contemporary newspaper articles, judicial and legal documents, and personal papers, uncovering new and unsettling material, most notably, that the men who planned Frank's lynching-they referred to themselves as the Knights of Mary Phagan-were, or became, very important state politicians. The historical canvas here is broad, and Frank's story becomes a tapestry of American ethnicity, fear, hate and power. Oney carefully maps the history of the Jewish community in the South; the role that New York newspapers played in publicizing the trial and attacking anti-Semitism; and the complex role that racism and the interactions between black and white Georgians played in Frank's conviction. This complex turmoil comes together when, out of the blue, Oney details a suspenseful, beautifully detailed plot twist involving William Smith, the lawyer for the only other suspect, a black man named Jim Conley. Oney has a reporter's eye for detail and a novelist's sense of storytelling. While the narrative-fashioned as a crime story-is vividly detailed and deeply compelling, we never lose a sense of Oney's exacting accuracy and serious historical intent. This is a vital addition to the literature of race, Jewish studies and Southern history. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"Brilliant. . . . Ninety years later, the tale of murder and revenge in Georgia still has the power to fascinate. . . . Intense, suspenseful." -The Washington Post Book World

"A major achievement . . . A fine work of history." -Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Compelling and relentlessly preoccupying. . . . Oney dapples his volume with vibrant, multihued street scenes and thumbnail portraits. You can almost hear the squealing brakes and clanging bells of the trolley cars outside the courtroom." -The Houston Chronicle

"Invites comparison to Norman Mailer's Executioner's Song. The book packs a wallop at many levels, from the mythic Southern characters to the violent infrastructure of our cultural memory." -The New York Times

"A grim and teeming ghost story. . . . A monumental folk parable of innocent suffering and a blind, brutal urge for retribution that passes finally into the simple, stark awe and pity of tragedy." -The New York Review of Books