His efforts have put four leading Klansmen behind bars, years after they thought they had gotten away with murder. He takes us into every harrowing scene along the way, as when Mitchell goes into the lion’s den, meeting one-on-one with the very murderers he is seeking to catch. Mitchell reveals how he unearthed secret documents, found long-lost suspects and witnesses, building up evidence strong enough to take on the Klan. His work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham and the Mississippi Burning case.
In Race Against Time, Mitchell takes readers on the twisting, pulse-racing road that led to the reopening of four of the most infamous killings from the days of the civil rights movement, decades after the fact. If there is one man who helped pave the way for justice, it is investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell. It took forty-one years before the mastermind was brought to trial and finally convicted for the three innocent lives he took. And even though the killers’ identities, including the sheriff’s deputy, were an open secret, no one was charged with murder in the months and years that followed. The killings, in what would become known as the “Mississippi Burning” case, were among the most brazen acts of violence during the civil rights movement. On June 21, 1964, more than twenty Klansmen murdered three civil rights workers. Thanks to him, and to courageous prosecutors, witnesses, and FBI agents, justice finally prevailed.” -John Grisham, author of The Guardians Nevertheless, Race Against Time is an important and often compelling book.“For almost two decades, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell doggedly pursued the Klansmen responsible for some of the most notorious murders of the civil rights movement. At times, Mitchell has a folksy tone that belies the seriousness of his topic. As a narrative, the book is uneven and many of the officials could have been fleshed out better as characters. Despite the many virtues of Race Against Time, Mitchell (the winner of more than 20 national awards, including a MacArthur fellowship) is a better investigator than he is a writer. the raw material for Race Against Time is storyteller’s gold: a compelling pursuit of justice combined with a real-life Southern Gothic atmosphere. We also come to see a personal element in Mitchell’s work. And at trial after trial, we see prosecutors relentlessly establish the guilt of men who had gone unpunished. As Mitchell recounts how he sifted through court records, reread FBI files, and got suspects to talk, we get the thrill of watching an old-fashioned investigative reporter at the top of his game.
Race Against Time provides the pleasures of both a detective novel and a courtroom drama.
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