{"product_id":"2940170006960","title":"The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan","description":"\u003cp\u003eTheamp;nbsp;\u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003eamp;nbsp;bestselling author ofamp;nbsp;\u003cem\u003eThe Kennedy Women\u003c\/em\u003eamp;nbsp;chronicles the powerful and spellbinding true story of a brutal race-based killing in 1981 and subsequent trials that undid one of the most pernicious organizations in American historyamp;#8212;the Ku Klux Klan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn a Friday night in March 1981 Henry Hays and James Knowles scoured the streets of Mobile in their car, hunting for a black man. The young men were members of Klavern 900 of the United Klans of America. They were seeking to retaliate after a largely black jury could not reach a verdict in a trial involving a black man accused of the murder of a white man. The two Klansmen found nineteen-year-old Michael Donald walking home alone. Hays and Knowles abducted him, beat him, cut his throat, and left his body hanging from a tree branch in a racially mixed residential neighborhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArrested, charged, and convicted, Hays was sentenced to deathamp;#8212;the first time in more than half a century that the state of Alabama sentenced a white man to death for killing a black man. On behalf of Michaelamp;#8217;s grieving mother, Morris Dees, the legendary civil rights lawyer and cofounder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a civil suit against the members of the local Klan unit involved and the UKA, the largest Klan organization. Charging them with conspiracy, Dees put the Klan on trial, resulting in a verdict that would level a deadly blow to its organization.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on numerous interviews and extensive archival research,amp;nbsp;\u003cem\u003eThe Lynching\u003c\/em\u003eamp;nbsp;brings to life two dramatic trials, during which the Alabama Klanamp;#8217;s motives and philosophy were exposed for the evil they represent. In addition to telling a gripping and consequential story, Laurence Leamer chronicles the KKK and its activities in the second half the twentieth century, and illuminates its lingering effect on race relations in America today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Lynching\u003c\/em\u003eamp;nbsp;includes sixteen pages of black-and-white photographs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47114930258160,"sku":"2940170006960","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170006960_p0.jpg?v=1763699037","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170006960","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}