Free shipping on orders over $99
God'll Cut You Down

God'll Cut You Down

The Tangled Tale of a White Supremacist, a Black Hustler, a Murder, and How I Lost a Year in Mississippi

by John Safran
Paperback
Publication Date: 08/09/2015

Share This Book:

 
An unlikely journalist, a murder case in Mississippi, and a fascinating literary true crime story in the style of Jon Ronson.

A notorious white supremacist named Richard Barrett was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 2010 by a young black man named Vincent McGee. At first the murder seemed a twist on old Deep South race crimes. But then new revelations and complications came to light. Maybe it was a dispute over money rather than race--or, maybe and intriguingly, over sex.

John Safran, a young white Jewish Australian documentarian, had been in Mississippi and interviewed Barrett for a film on race. When he learned of Barrett's murder, he returned to find out what happened and became caught up in the twists and turns of the case. During his time in Mississippi, Safran got deeper and deeper into this gothic southern world, becoming entwined in the lives of those connected with the murder--white separatist frenemies, black lawyers, police investigators, oddball neighbors, the stunned families, even the killer himself. And the more he talked with them, the less simple the crime--and the people involved--seemed to be. In the end, he discovered how profoundly and indelibly complex the truth about someone's life--and death--can be.

This is a brilliant, haunting, hilarious, unsettling story about race, money, sex, and power in the modern American South from an outsider's point of view.
ISBN:
9781594633997
9781594633997
Category:
True crime
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
08-09-2015
Language:
English
Publisher:
Penguin Publishing Group
Country of origin:
United States
Dimensions (mm):
209.04x138.18x24.38mm
Weight:
0.33kg
John Safran

John Safran is an award-winning documentary-maker of provocative and hilarious takes on race, the media, religion and other issues.

John first hit TV screens in 1997 on Race Around the World (ABC-TV). Both John Safran's Music Jamboree (SBS, 2002) and John Safran vs. God (SBS, 2004) won Australian Film Industry awards for Best Comedy Series and Most Original Concept, and were also nominated for Logie Awards.

Other shows include John Safran's Race Relations (ABC-TV, 2009) which was nominated for two awards at the prestigious Rose d'Or Festival in Switzerland and Speaking in Tongues (SBS, 2005-06).

John also co-hosted Sunday Night Safran, a radio talk show on Triple J with cranky but beloved Catholic priest, Father Bob Maguire.

Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available

Reviews

Be the first to review God'll Cut You Down.