In The Informant, historian Gary May reveals the untold story of
the murder of civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, shot to death by
members of the violent Birmingham Ku Klux Klan at the end of Martin
Luther King's historic Voting Rights March in 1965. The case drew
national attention and was solved almost instantly, because one of
the Klansman present during the shooting was Gary Thomas Rowe, an
undercover FBI informant. At the time, Rowe's information and
subsequent testimony were heralded as a triumph of law enforcement.
But as Gary May reveals in this provocative and powerful book,
Rowe's history of collaboration with both the Klan and the FBI was
far more complex. Based on previously unexamined FBI and Justice
Department Records, The Informant demonstrates that in their
ongoing efforts to protect Rowe's cover, the FBI knowingly became
an accessory to some of the most grotesque crimes of the Civil
Rights era--including a vicious attack on the Freedom Riders and
perhaps even the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. A
tale of a renegade informant and an intelligence system
ill-prepared to deal with threats from within, The Informant offers
a dramatic and cautionary tale about what can happen when secret
police power goes unchecked.
General
Imprint: |
Yale University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
November 2011 |
First published: |
November 2011 |
Authors: |
Gary May
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 27mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
448 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-300-18413-6 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-300-18413-1 |
Barcode: |
9780300184136 |
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