He Calls Me By Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century, Military
Cover of the book He Calls Me By Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty by S Jonathan Bass, Liveright
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: S Jonathan Bass ISBN: 9781631492389
Publisher: Liveright Publication: May 16, 2017
Imprint: Liveright Language: English
Author: S Jonathan Bass
ISBN: 9781631492389
Publisher: Liveright
Publication: May 16, 2017
Imprint: Liveright
Language: English

This harrowing portrait of the Jim Crow South “proves how much we do not yet know about our history” (New York Times Book Review).

Caliph Washington didn’t pull the trigger but, as Officer James "Cowboy" Clark lay dying, he had no choice but to turn on his heel and run. The year was 1957; Cowboy Clark was white, Caliph Washington was black, and this was the Jim Crow South.

Widely lauded for its searing “insight into a history of America that can no longer be left unknown” (Washington Post), He Calls Me by Lightning is an “absorbing chronicle” (Ira Katznelson) of the forgotten life of Caliph Washington that becomes an historic portrait of racial injustice in the civil rights era. Washington, a black teenager from the vice-ridden city of Bessemer, Alabama, was wrongfully convicted of killing a white Alabama policeman in 1957 and sentenced to death. Through “meticulous research and vivid prose” (Patrick Phillips), S. Jonathan Bass reveals Washington’s Kafkaesque legal odyssey: he came within minutes of the electric chair nearly a dozen times and had his conviction overturned three times before finally being released in 1972. Devastating and essential, He Calls Me by Lightning demands that we take into account the thousands of lives cast away by the systemic racism of a “social order apparently unchanged even today” (David Levering Lewis).

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This harrowing portrait of the Jim Crow South “proves how much we do not yet know about our history” (New York Times Book Review).

Caliph Washington didn’t pull the trigger but, as Officer James "Cowboy" Clark lay dying, he had no choice but to turn on his heel and run. The year was 1957; Cowboy Clark was white, Caliph Washington was black, and this was the Jim Crow South.

Widely lauded for its searing “insight into a history of America that can no longer be left unknown” (Washington Post), He Calls Me by Lightning is an “absorbing chronicle” (Ira Katznelson) of the forgotten life of Caliph Washington that becomes an historic portrait of racial injustice in the civil rights era. Washington, a black teenager from the vice-ridden city of Bessemer, Alabama, was wrongfully convicted of killing a white Alabama policeman in 1957 and sentenced to death. Through “meticulous research and vivid prose” (Patrick Phillips), S. Jonathan Bass reveals Washington’s Kafkaesque legal odyssey: he came within minutes of the electric chair nearly a dozen times and had his conviction overturned three times before finally being released in 1972. Devastating and essential, He Calls Me by Lightning demands that we take into account the thousands of lives cast away by the systemic racism of a “social order apparently unchanged even today” (David Levering Lewis).

More books from Liveright

Cover of the book High-Rise: A Novel (Movie Tie-in Editions) by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Running Wild by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Cane (New Edition) by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Nefertiti in the Flak Tower: Poems by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Bolshoi Confidential: Secrets of the Russian Ballet from the Rule of the Tsars to Today by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Machine Made: Tammany Hall and the Creation of Modern American Politics by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book The Divine Comedy by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book The Extra Woman: How Marjorie Hillis Led a Generation of Women to Live Alone and Like It by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book The Miracle on Monhegan Island: A Novel by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy by S Jonathan Bass
Cover of the book The Drowned World: A Novel (50th Anniversary Edition) by S Jonathan Bass
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy