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Article: Book World; The Saga of the Scottsboro Boys
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- March 22, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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STORIES OF SCOTTSBORO
By James Goodman
Pantheon. 465 pp. $27.50
Historian James Goodman's aim here is to retell the story of
the Scottsboro Boys - nine young black men accused in 1931 of raping
two white women - from many viewpoints, including some only
peripherally connected to the case. Goodman uses letters written by
the Scottsboro Boys, reports from private investigators, trial
transcripts, court records and newspaper and magazine stories, as
well as documents from the archives of organizations involved in the
case.
The result is a rich and compelling narrative, as taut and
suspenseful as good fiction. In places "Stories of Scottsboro" is
almost heartbreaking, not least because ...