Trouble in July
by Erskine Caldwell
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Description
A small Southern town lynches a falsely accused man in "some of the most . . . human and terrifying pages Caldwell has written" (Richard Wright, author of Native Son). When word spreads through Julie County that Sonny Clark, a black man, has assaulted Katy Barlow, a white woman, the man's fate is sealed. With frightening speed, authorities and an outraged mob align to apprehend Clark and condemn him without trial. By the time Barlow confesses that no crime occurred, it is too late. show more Told from the multiple perspectives of victim and victimizers as well as passive onlookers, Trouble in July depicts in harrowing detail the tragic ignorance of individuals who fail to understand their roles in a hateful miscarriage of justice. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erskine Caldwell including rare photos and never-before-seen documents courtesy of the Dartmouth College Library. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is a fine book. The subject matter - a lynching - means it's not always an easy read, but it is so well put together, and so atmospheric, that you are drawn into the narrative from the beginning. The humid air of a southern summer seems to seep right off the pages.
A key to this book - and one of the other reviewers touched on this - is that it isn't about the few who do evil, it's about the many who don't stop it. It's a powerful message, but Caldwell has a light enough touch not to labour the point.
A key to this book - and one of the other reviewers touched on this - is that it isn't about the few who do evil, it's about the many who don't stop it. It's a powerful message, but Caldwell has a light enough touch not to labour the point.
One of my favorite Caldwell books, not because it is a 'nice ' story, it is anything but, but it is realistic, as history has proven of the lives poor black folks down South endured since forever.
It is about a lynching and I will say no more so as not to spoil it for anybody who wishes to read it. I love most of his books, and all the ones that deal with the South, along with Place called Estherville and this one is incredibly moving. I highly recommend this book. A
It is about a lynching and I will say no more so as not to spoil it for anybody who wishes to read it. I love most of his books, and all the ones that deal with the South, along with Place called Estherville and this one is incredibly moving. I highly recommend this book. A
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Author Information
226+ Works 4,837 Members
Erskine Caldwell has been called one of the most banned and censored authors in the United States. The son of a traveling minister, born in White Oak, Georgia in 1903, Caldwell received little formal education, as a young man, Caldwell took odd jobs and worked in the Southern states. He attended briefly Erskine College, Due West, South Carolina, show more and the Universities of Virginia and Pennsylvania for some semesters. Yet he became a prolific writer whose novels explore the seamy side of life in the American South. At the age of eighteen he went on a gun-running boat to South America, he played professional football and worked as mill-hand, cotton-picker, and in other such occupations. For a time Caldwell was a cub reporter on the Atlanta Journal. In the 1920s Caldwell moved to Maine to devote himself to writing. After several Spartan years, he had three stories accepted for publication. In 1930 Caldwell destroyed all his unpublished work from previous years. 'Country Full of Swedes' was published in the Yale Review, and it received $1,000 award from the journal in 1933. American Earth, a collection of short stories about petty passions and little lecheries, was published in 1931. Some of the stories had first appeared in such magazines as The American Caravan, Blues, Frankfurter Zeitung, Front, The Hound and Horn, Nativity, Pagany, Scribner's Magazine, This Quarter, and transition. The title of one of his novels Tobacco Road (1932) became slang for poverty and degeneracy. The book was made into both a movie (1941) and a long-running Broadway show (1933-1941). Other novels, some of which were made into later films, include The Bastard (1929), Poor Fool (1930), and God's Little Acre (1933). By the late 1940's, Caldwell had sold more books than any writer in the nation's history. Caldwell became a reporter for the Atlanta Journal in 1925, worked as a scriptwriter in Hollywood and was a newspaper correspondent in Mexico, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Russia and China. In 1984, Caldwell was elected, along with Norman Mailer, to the fifty-chair body of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Caldwell is the author of 25 novels, 150 short stories and 12 nonfiction books. He died in Paradise Valley, Arizona on April 11, 1987. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Zebra (12)
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Fermento di Luglio
- Original title
- Trouble in July
- Original publication date
- 1940
- People/Characters*
- Sonny Clark; Katy Barlow; Shep Barlow; Jeff McCurtain; Narcissa Calhoun
- Important places*
- Andrewjones, Georgia, USA; Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA
- First words*
- A letto, con sua moglie, lo sceriffo Jeff McCurtain se ne stava profondamente addormentato al piano superiore dell'edificio della prigione di Andrewjones, quando ilrumore di qualcuno che picchiava con violenza all'uscio lo sv... (show all)egliò.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Camminava avanti, solo.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- 131
- Popularity
- 250,067
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.77)
- Languages
- 9 — Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 16
- ASINs
- 12
