Author: John F. Marszalek III
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 149682914X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
2020 Digital Book World Best Book (Published by a University Press) In Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet: Same-Sex Couples in Mississippi, John F. Marszalek III shares conversations with same-sex couples living in small-town and rural Mississippi. In the first book of its kind to focus on Mississippi, couples tell their stories of how they met and fell in love, their decisions on whether or not to marry, and their experiences as sexual minorities with their neighbors, families, and churches. Their stories illuminate a complicated relationship between many same-sex couples and their communities, influenced by southern culture, religion, and family norms. As Marszalek guides readers into the homes of diverse same-sex couples, he weaves in his own story of meeting his husband and living as a married gay man in Mississippi. Both the couples and he explain why they remain in one of the most conservative states in the country rather than moving to a place with a large, vibrant gay community. In addition to sharing his own experiences, Marszalek reviews the literature on the topic, including writings from southern and rural queer studies, history, sociology, and psychology, to explain how the couples’ relationships and experiences compare to those of same-sex couples in other areas and times. Consequently, Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet is written for both the scholar of southern and queer studies and for anyone interested in learning about the experiences of same-sex couples.
Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet
Author: John F. Marszalek III
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 149682914X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
2020 Digital Book World Best Book (Published by a University Press) In Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet: Same-Sex Couples in Mississippi, John F. Marszalek III shares conversations with same-sex couples living in small-town and rural Mississippi. In the first book of its kind to focus on Mississippi, couples tell their stories of how they met and fell in love, their decisions on whether or not to marry, and their experiences as sexual minorities with their neighbors, families, and churches. Their stories illuminate a complicated relationship between many same-sex couples and their communities, influenced by southern culture, religion, and family norms. As Marszalek guides readers into the homes of diverse same-sex couples, he weaves in his own story of meeting his husband and living as a married gay man in Mississippi. Both the couples and he explain why they remain in one of the most conservative states in the country rather than moving to a place with a large, vibrant gay community. In addition to sharing his own experiences, Marszalek reviews the literature on the topic, including writings from southern and rural queer studies, history, sociology, and psychology, to explain how the couples’ relationships and experiences compare to those of same-sex couples in other areas and times. Consequently, Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet is written for both the scholar of southern and queer studies and for anyone interested in learning about the experiences of same-sex couples.
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 149682914X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
2020 Digital Book World Best Book (Published by a University Press) In Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet: Same-Sex Couples in Mississippi, John F. Marszalek III shares conversations with same-sex couples living in small-town and rural Mississippi. In the first book of its kind to focus on Mississippi, couples tell their stories of how they met and fell in love, their decisions on whether or not to marry, and their experiences as sexual minorities with their neighbors, families, and churches. Their stories illuminate a complicated relationship between many same-sex couples and their communities, influenced by southern culture, religion, and family norms. As Marszalek guides readers into the homes of diverse same-sex couples, he weaves in his own story of meeting his husband and living as a married gay man in Mississippi. Both the couples and he explain why they remain in one of the most conservative states in the country rather than moving to a place with a large, vibrant gay community. In addition to sharing his own experiences, Marszalek reviews the literature on the topic, including writings from southern and rural queer studies, history, sociology, and psychology, to explain how the couples’ relationships and experiences compare to those of same-sex couples in other areas and times. Consequently, Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet is written for both the scholar of southern and queer studies and for anyone interested in learning about the experiences of same-sex couples.
Warm Nights in Magnolia Bay
Author: Babette de Jongh
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1728216966
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Welcome to Magnolia Bay where: The animals interfere in their owners' love lives Everyone (humans and animals alike) has an opinion about everything The neighbor is as infuriating as he is gorgeous And a sprinkle of hope is just the right thing to have you believing in love again Abby Curtis lands on her Aunt Reva's doorstep at Bayside Barn with nowhere to go but up. Learning animal communication from her aunt while taking care of the motley assortment of rescue animals on the farm is an important part of Abby's healing process. She is eager to begin a new life on her own, but she isn't prepared for the magnetism between her and her handsome, stubborn and distracting new neighbor. Quinn Lockhart snapped up the foreclosed estate next door determined to renovate and flip the beautiful bayou property. It's all part of a plan to make a financial comeback and reconnect with his estranged son. Definitely not part of the plan is the noisy petting zoo next door dragging down his property value. But getting rid of it becomes more difficult when he falls for the lovely and passionate Abby and bonds with an abandoned wolf dog who's mournfully waiting for his family to return. For humans and animals alike, it will take all the courage they can muster to learn to love again. But that's a journey worth taking—with a little help from their furry friends. You'll fall in love right along with Abby as animals and humans alike find unexpected ways to connect, nurture each other, and thrive.
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1728216966
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Welcome to Magnolia Bay where: The animals interfere in their owners' love lives Everyone (humans and animals alike) has an opinion about everything The neighbor is as infuriating as he is gorgeous And a sprinkle of hope is just the right thing to have you believing in love again Abby Curtis lands on her Aunt Reva's doorstep at Bayside Barn with nowhere to go but up. Learning animal communication from her aunt while taking care of the motley assortment of rescue animals on the farm is an important part of Abby's healing process. She is eager to begin a new life on her own, but she isn't prepared for the magnetism between her and her handsome, stubborn and distracting new neighbor. Quinn Lockhart snapped up the foreclosed estate next door determined to renovate and flip the beautiful bayou property. It's all part of a plan to make a financial comeback and reconnect with his estranged son. Definitely not part of the plan is the noisy petting zoo next door dragging down his property value. But getting rid of it becomes more difficult when he falls for the lovely and passionate Abby and bonds with an abandoned wolf dog who's mournfully waiting for his family to return. For humans and animals alike, it will take all the courage they can muster to learn to love again. But that's a journey worth taking—with a little help from their furry friends. You'll fall in love right along with Abby as animals and humans alike find unexpected ways to connect, nurture each other, and thrive.
The Healing Otherness Handbook
Author: Stacee L. Reicherzer
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
ISBN: 1684036496
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 261
Book Description
Rewrite your story—and this time, you make the rules. Were you the victim of childhood bullying based on your identity? Do you carry those scars into adulthood in the form of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), dysfunctional relationships, substance abuse, or suicidal thoughts? If so, you’re not alone. Our cultural and political climate has reopened old wounds for many people who have felt “othered” at different points in their life, starting with childhood bullying. This breakthrough book will guide you as you learn to identify your deeply rooted fears, and help you heal the invisible wounds of identity-based childhood rejection, bullying, and belittling. In The Healing Otherness Handbook, Stacee Reicherzer—a nationally known transgender psychotherapist and expert on trauma, otherness, and self-sabotage—shares her own personal story of childhood bullying, and how it inspired her to help others heal from the same wounds. Drawing from mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Reicherzer will help you gain a better understanding of how past trauma has limited your life, and show you the keys to freeing yourself from self-defeating, destructive beliefs. If you’re ready to heal from the past, find power in your difference, and live an authentic life full of confidence—this handbook will help guide you, step by step.
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
ISBN: 1684036496
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 261
Book Description
Rewrite your story—and this time, you make the rules. Were you the victim of childhood bullying based on your identity? Do you carry those scars into adulthood in the form of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), dysfunctional relationships, substance abuse, or suicidal thoughts? If so, you’re not alone. Our cultural and political climate has reopened old wounds for many people who have felt “othered” at different points in their life, starting with childhood bullying. This breakthrough book will guide you as you learn to identify your deeply rooted fears, and help you heal the invisible wounds of identity-based childhood rejection, bullying, and belittling. In The Healing Otherness Handbook, Stacee Reicherzer—a nationally known transgender psychotherapist and expert on trauma, otherness, and self-sabotage—shares her own personal story of childhood bullying, and how it inspired her to help others heal from the same wounds. Drawing from mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), Reicherzer will help you gain a better understanding of how past trauma has limited your life, and show you the keys to freeing yourself from self-defeating, destructive beliefs. If you’re ready to heal from the past, find power in your difference, and live an authentic life full of confidence—this handbook will help guide you, step by step.
Gay Faulkner
Author: Phillip Gordon
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496826019
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 294
Book Description
The life and works of William Faulkner have generated numerous biographical studies exploring how Faulkner understood southern history, race, his relationship to art, and his place in the canons of American and world literature. However, some details on Faulkner’s life collected by his early biographers never made it into published form or, when they did, appeared in marginalized stories and cryptic references. The biographical record of William Faulkner’s life has yet to come to terms with the life-long friendships he maintained with gay men, the extent to which he immersed himself into gay communities in Greenwich Village and New Orleans, and how profoundly this part of his life influenced his “apocryphal” creation of Yoknapatawpha County. Gay Faulkner: Uncovering a Homosexual Presence in Yoknapatawpha and Beyond explores the intimate friendships Faulkner maintained with gay men, among them Ben Wasson, William Spratling, and Hubert Creekmore, and places his fiction into established canons of LGBTQ literature, including World War I literature and representations of homosexuality from the Cold War. The book offers a full consideration of his relationship to gay history and identity in the twentieth century, giving rise to a new understanding of this most important of American authors.
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496826019
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 294
Book Description
The life and works of William Faulkner have generated numerous biographical studies exploring how Faulkner understood southern history, race, his relationship to art, and his place in the canons of American and world literature. However, some details on Faulkner’s life collected by his early biographers never made it into published form or, when they did, appeared in marginalized stories and cryptic references. The biographical record of William Faulkner’s life has yet to come to terms with the life-long friendships he maintained with gay men, the extent to which he immersed himself into gay communities in Greenwich Village and New Orleans, and how profoundly this part of his life influenced his “apocryphal” creation of Yoknapatawpha County. Gay Faulkner: Uncovering a Homosexual Presence in Yoknapatawpha and Beyond explores the intimate friendships Faulkner maintained with gay men, among them Ben Wasson, William Spratling, and Hubert Creekmore, and places his fiction into established canons of LGBTQ literature, including World War I literature and representations of homosexuality from the Cold War. The book offers a full consideration of his relationship to gay history and identity in the twentieth century, giving rise to a new understanding of this most important of American authors.
Valley Forge
Author: Bob Drury
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501152726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
The #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is return with “a thorough, nuanced, and enthralling account” (The Wall Street Journal) about one of the most inspiring—and underappreciated—chapters in American history: the Continental Army’s six-month transformation in Valley Forge. In December 1777, some 12,000 members of America’s Continental Army stagger into a small Pennsylvania encampment near British-occupied Philadelphia. Their commander in chief, George Washington, is at the lowest ebb of his military career. Yet, somehow, Washington, with a dedicated coterie of advisers, sets out to breathe new life into his military force. Against all odds, they manage to turn a bobtail army of citizen soldiers into a professional fighting force that will change the world forever. Valley Forge is the story of how that metamorphosis occurred. Bestselling authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin show us how this miracle was accomplished despite thousands of American soldiers succumbing to disease, starvation, and the elements. At the center of it all is George Washington as he fends off pernicious political conspiracies. The Valley Forge winter is his—and the revolution’s—last chance at redemption. And after six months in the camp, Washington fulfills his destiny, leading the Continental Army to a stunning victory in the Battle of Monmouth Court House. Valley Forge is the riveting true story of a nascent United States toppling an empire. Using new and rarely seen contemporaneous documents—and drawing on a cast of iconic characters and remarkable moments that capture the innovation and energy that led to the birth of our nation—Drury and Clavin provide a “gripping, panoramic account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) of the definitive account of this seminal and previously undervalued moment in the battle for American independence.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1501152726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
The #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is return with “a thorough, nuanced, and enthralling account” (The Wall Street Journal) about one of the most inspiring—and underappreciated—chapters in American history: the Continental Army’s six-month transformation in Valley Forge. In December 1777, some 12,000 members of America’s Continental Army stagger into a small Pennsylvania encampment near British-occupied Philadelphia. Their commander in chief, George Washington, is at the lowest ebb of his military career. Yet, somehow, Washington, with a dedicated coterie of advisers, sets out to breathe new life into his military force. Against all odds, they manage to turn a bobtail army of citizen soldiers into a professional fighting force that will change the world forever. Valley Forge is the story of how that metamorphosis occurred. Bestselling authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin show us how this miracle was accomplished despite thousands of American soldiers succumbing to disease, starvation, and the elements. At the center of it all is George Washington as he fends off pernicious political conspiracies. The Valley Forge winter is his—and the revolution’s—last chance at redemption. And after six months in the camp, Washington fulfills his destiny, leading the Continental Army to a stunning victory in the Battle of Monmouth Court House. Valley Forge is the riveting true story of a nascent United States toppling an empire. Using new and rarely seen contemporaneous documents—and drawing on a cast of iconic characters and remarkable moments that capture the innovation and energy that led to the birth of our nation—Drury and Clavin provide a “gripping, panoramic account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) of the definitive account of this seminal and previously undervalued moment in the battle for American independence.
The Vacation
Author: Polly Horvath
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN: 1466863021
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 162
Book Description
From the author of the Newbery Honor Book Everything on a Waffle When his mother decides on a whim to be a missionary in Africa and drags his unwilling father with her, Henry is left in the care of his Aunts Magnolia and Pigg. Henry's sure they dislike him and he's trying to keep his distance, but that becomes more difficult when Mag decides they should take a destination-less road trip. Mag, convalescing from an illness that makes her look like death, is downright crabby. Pigg, tense from driving, is becoming more assertive and less willing to submit to Mag's whims. And while they poke each other – literally – Henry is finding it hard to keep his resolution. They go to Virginia Beach (it's too hot); try camping in the Everglades (Henry accidentally spends four days floating in a swamp); visit their daddy, Henry's granddaddy (Henry's never met him!); and lose Pigg to love in Oklahoma (what would the radio psychologist Daly Kramer say?) before they finally receive word that Henry's parents are coming back and will meet them in Tulsa to finish the trip with Mag and Henry. But his parents are bickering and Henry is in despair – until he surrenders to the road and decides to let whatever happens happen, but to be there in it all. Complete with her signature cast of eccentric characters, absurd situations, and heartfelt moments, Polly Horvath writes an on-the-road epic like no other!
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN: 1466863021
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 162
Book Description
From the author of the Newbery Honor Book Everything on a Waffle When his mother decides on a whim to be a missionary in Africa and drags his unwilling father with her, Henry is left in the care of his Aunts Magnolia and Pigg. Henry's sure they dislike him and he's trying to keep his distance, but that becomes more difficult when Mag decides they should take a destination-less road trip. Mag, convalescing from an illness that makes her look like death, is downright crabby. Pigg, tense from driving, is becoming more assertive and less willing to submit to Mag's whims. And while they poke each other – literally – Henry is finding it hard to keep his resolution. They go to Virginia Beach (it's too hot); try camping in the Everglades (Henry accidentally spends four days floating in a swamp); visit their daddy, Henry's granddaddy (Henry's never met him!); and lose Pigg to love in Oklahoma (what would the radio psychologist Daly Kramer say?) before they finally receive word that Henry's parents are coming back and will meet them in Tulsa to finish the trip with Mag and Henry. But his parents are bickering and Henry is in despair – until he surrenders to the road and decides to let whatever happens happen, but to be there in it all. Complete with her signature cast of eccentric characters, absurd situations, and heartfelt moments, Polly Horvath writes an on-the-road epic like no other!
Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling
Author: David Capuzzi
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119686075
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling A newly updated and practical approach to marriage, couples, and family counseling Now in its second edition, Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling delivers a comprehensive treatment of current theory, research, and real-life practice in family therapy. The text is fully aligned with the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). It covers foundational and advanced topics of critical importance to student counselors and therapists seeking to work in family settings, including sexuality, trauma, divorce, domestic violence, addictions, filial play therapy, and the positioning of culture and context in family therapy. The new edition includes updated content in each chapter and entirely new chapters on assessments and helping families mitigate, adapt, and transition during crisis. This important book: Covers the basic knowledge and skills essential to students and practitioners of couples and family therapy Details the history, concepts, and techniques associated with crucial theories, and includes a new chapter on the most up to date assessment strategies Tackles contemporary issues and interventions in trauma, divorce, domestic violence, sexuality, and more At once comprehensive and concise, the Second Edition of Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling offers readers a guide to the complex and interconnected concepts required to support a full understanding of couples and family therapy.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119686075
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 464
Book Description
Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling A newly updated and practical approach to marriage, couples, and family counseling Now in its second edition, Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling delivers a comprehensive treatment of current theory, research, and real-life practice in family therapy. The text is fully aligned with the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). It covers foundational and advanced topics of critical importance to student counselors and therapists seeking to work in family settings, including sexuality, trauma, divorce, domestic violence, addictions, filial play therapy, and the positioning of culture and context in family therapy. The new edition includes updated content in each chapter and entirely new chapters on assessments and helping families mitigate, adapt, and transition during crisis. This important book: Covers the basic knowledge and skills essential to students and practitioners of couples and family therapy Details the history, concepts, and techniques associated with crucial theories, and includes a new chapter on the most up to date assessment strategies Tackles contemporary issues and interventions in trauma, divorce, domestic violence, sexuality, and more At once comprehensive and concise, the Second Edition of Foundations of Couples, Marriage, and Family Counseling offers readers a guide to the complex and interconnected concepts required to support a full understanding of couples and family therapy.
The Bald Eagle
Author: Jack E. Davis
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781324094104
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Best Books of the Month: Wall Street Journal, Kirkus Reviews From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Gulf, a sweeping cultural and natural history of the bald eagle in America.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781324094104
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Best Books of the Month: Wall Street Journal, Kirkus Reviews From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Gulf, a sweeping cultural and natural history of the bald eagle in America.
The Magnolia Sword
Author: Sherry Thomas
Publisher: Sherry Thomas
ISBN: 163128035X
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
CHINA, 484 A.D. A Warrior in Disguise All her life, Mulan has trained for one purpose: to win the duel that every generation in her family must fight. If she prevails, she can reunite a pair of priceless heirloom swords separated decades earlier, and avenge her father, who was paralyzed in his own duel. Then a messenger from the Emperor arrives, demanding that all families send one soldier to fight the Rouran invaders in the north. Mulan’s father cannot go. Her brother is just a child. So she ties up her hair, takes up her sword, and joins the army as a man. A War for a Dynasty Thanks to her martial arts skills, Mulan is chosen for an elite team under the command of the princeling—the royal duke’s son, who is also the handsomest man she’s ever seen. But the princeling has secrets of his own, which explode into Mulan’s life and shake up everything she knows. As they cross the Great Wall to face the enemy beyond, Mulan and the princeling must find a way to unwind their past, unmask a traitor, and uncover the plans for the Rouran invasion…before it’s too late. Inspired by wuxia martial-arts dramas as well as the centuries-old ballad of Mulan, The Magnolia Sword is a thrilling, romantic, and sharp-edged novel that lives up to its beloved heroine.
Publisher: Sherry Thomas
ISBN: 163128035X
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 323
Book Description
CHINA, 484 A.D. A Warrior in Disguise All her life, Mulan has trained for one purpose: to win the duel that every generation in her family must fight. If she prevails, she can reunite a pair of priceless heirloom swords separated decades earlier, and avenge her father, who was paralyzed in his own duel. Then a messenger from the Emperor arrives, demanding that all families send one soldier to fight the Rouran invaders in the north. Mulan’s father cannot go. Her brother is just a child. So she ties up her hair, takes up her sword, and joins the army as a man. A War for a Dynasty Thanks to her martial arts skills, Mulan is chosen for an elite team under the command of the princeling—the royal duke’s son, who is also the handsomest man she’s ever seen. But the princeling has secrets of his own, which explode into Mulan’s life and shake up everything she knows. As they cross the Great Wall to face the enemy beyond, Mulan and the princeling must find a way to unwind their past, unmask a traitor, and uncover the plans for the Rouran invasion…before it’s too late. Inspired by wuxia martial-arts dramas as well as the centuries-old ballad of Mulan, The Magnolia Sword is a thrilling, romantic, and sharp-edged novel that lives up to its beloved heroine.
Murder in McComb
Author: Trent Brown
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807173657
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
What remained of the badly decomposed body of twelve-year-old Tina Marie Andrews was discovered underneath a discarded sofa in the woods outside of McComb, Mississippi, on August 23, 1969. Ten days earlier, Andrews and a friend had accepted a ride home after leaving the Tiger’s Den, a local teenage hangout, but they were driven instead to the remote area where Andrews was eventually murdered. Although eyewitness testimony pointed to two local police officers, no one was ever convicted of this brutal crime, and to this day the case remains officially unsolved. Contemporary local newspaper coverage notwithstanding, the story of Andrews’s murder has not been told. Indeed, many people in the McComb community still, more than fifty years later, hesitate to speak of the tragedy. Trent Brown’s Murder in McComb is the first comprehensive examination of this case, the lengthy investigation into it, and the two extended trials that followed. Brown also explores the public shaming of the state’s main witness, a fifteen-year-old unwed mother, and the subsequent desecration of Andrews’s grave. Set against the uneasy backdrop of the civil rights movement, Brown’s study deftly reconstructs various accounts of the murder, explains why the juries reached the verdicts they did, and explores the broader forces that shaped the community in which Andrews lived and died. Unlike so many other accounts of violence in the Jim Crow South, racial animus was not the driving force behind Andrews’s murder; in fact, most of the individuals central to the case, from the sheriff to the judges to the victim, were white. Yet Andrews, as well as her friend Billie Jo Lambert, the state’s key witness, were “girls of ill repute,” as one defense attorney put it. To many people in McComb, Tina and Billie Jo were “trashy” children whose circumstances reflected their families’ low socioeconomic standing. In the end, Brown suggests that Tina Andrews had the great misfortune to be murdered in a town where the locals were overly eager to support law, order, and stability—instead of true justice—amid the tense and uncertain times during and after the civil rights movement.
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807173657
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
What remained of the badly decomposed body of twelve-year-old Tina Marie Andrews was discovered underneath a discarded sofa in the woods outside of McComb, Mississippi, on August 23, 1969. Ten days earlier, Andrews and a friend had accepted a ride home after leaving the Tiger’s Den, a local teenage hangout, but they were driven instead to the remote area where Andrews was eventually murdered. Although eyewitness testimony pointed to two local police officers, no one was ever convicted of this brutal crime, and to this day the case remains officially unsolved. Contemporary local newspaper coverage notwithstanding, the story of Andrews’s murder has not been told. Indeed, many people in the McComb community still, more than fifty years later, hesitate to speak of the tragedy. Trent Brown’s Murder in McComb is the first comprehensive examination of this case, the lengthy investigation into it, and the two extended trials that followed. Brown also explores the public shaming of the state’s main witness, a fifteen-year-old unwed mother, and the subsequent desecration of Andrews’s grave. Set against the uneasy backdrop of the civil rights movement, Brown’s study deftly reconstructs various accounts of the murder, explains why the juries reached the verdicts they did, and explores the broader forces that shaped the community in which Andrews lived and died. Unlike so many other accounts of violence in the Jim Crow South, racial animus was not the driving force behind Andrews’s murder; in fact, most of the individuals central to the case, from the sheriff to the judges to the victim, were white. Yet Andrews, as well as her friend Billie Jo Lambert, the state’s key witness, were “girls of ill repute,” as one defense attorney put it. To many people in McComb, Tina and Billie Jo were “trashy” children whose circumstances reflected their families’ low socioeconomic standing. In the end, Brown suggests that Tina Andrews had the great misfortune to be murdered in a town where the locals were overly eager to support law, order, and stability—instead of true justice—amid the tense and uncertain times during and after the civil rights movement.