Audiobook3 hours
An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
Written by Elaine Marie Alphin
Narrated by Kevin Orton
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
Was an innocent man wrongly accused of murder? On April 26, 1913, thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan planned to meet friends at a parade in Atlanta, Georgia. But first she stopped at the pencil factory where she worked to pick up her paycheck. Mary never left the building alive. A black watchman found Mary's body brutally beaten and raped. Police arrested the watchman, but they weren't satisfied that he was the killer. Then they paid a visit to Leo Frank, the factory's superintendent, who was both a northerner and a Jew. Spurred on by the media frenzy and prejudices of the time, the detectives made Frank their prime suspect, one whose conviction would soothe the city's anger over the death of a young white girl. The prosecution of Leo Frank was front-page news for two years, and Frank's lynching is still one of the most controversial incidents of the twentieth century. It marks a turning point in the history of racial and religious hatred in America, leading directly to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League and to the rebirth of the modern Ku Klux Klan. Relying on primary source documents and painstaking research, award-winning novelist Elaine Alphin tells the true story of justice undone in America.
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Reviews for An Unspeakable Crime
Rating: 4.083333333333333 out of 5 stars
4/5
18 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent historical writing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atlanta, Georgia: April, 1913. 13-year-old Mary Phagan went to pick up her week's pay at the National Pencil Company before she was to join her friends at a parade. She was murdered shortly after collecting her wages, and her badly beaten body was discovered in the factory basement the next morning. There were bloody handprints, some poorly written notes near her body, and very few suspects. The police virtually ignored the factory janitor, and instead focused their investigation on Leo Frank, the factory manager. This is a chronologically organized story of his arrest, prosecution and conviction, and eventual lynching for Mary Phagan's murder. Although the actual murderer confessed to his own lawyer, that information was suppressed. At the time, anti-Semitism and anti-Northern feelings were rampant in the South, and the effect these had on justice is chilling. There are photos of the crime scene, court documents, newspaper articles, letters, and images of events surrounding the case. This will be an outstanding addition to 8th grade reading lists -- it works very well with To Kill A Mockingbird.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In 1913, thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan went by the pencil factory where she worked to pick up her paycheck. She didn't make it out alive. Police searched for clues as to who had beaten and raped her, at first suspecting the African-American watchman. Eventually they arrested and prosecuted Leo Frank, the factory's Jewish superintendent. Leo Frank was lynched... for a crime he may not have committed. Painstaking research obviously went into this book and it's a fascinating and important story. I think, though, that it almost goes into too much detail for its audience. I found my attention wandering and I have to admit that I skimmed much of it.