The Past Is Never Dead: The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi's Struggle for Redemption

The past isn't always about honor and glory - often it's about shame and violence. It's hard to read about the awful things that happened in the "south" in the 60's during the civil rights conflict but since this is a vital part of our countries history we need to remember those troubled times. A time when the Ku klux klan fought civil rights by intimidations, beatings, burnings and grizzly murders. "The Past Is Never Dead" is an important book especially since the "Past" isn't dead and Mississippi seems to be taking most of the blame for the violence. Take another look at Mississippi as it seeks redemption. Read MacLean's book as he covers the James Ford Seale Trial and his look into what Mississippians are doing to redeem themselves and their State from old stereotypes. Sit in on the drama of the trial of Mr. Seale for the burtal murders of Charles Moore and Henry Dee some 43 years after the fact. Jury selection begins May 4, 2007 both jury selection and the main act of the trial are fascinating. During breaks in the trial as well as before and after the main action you will want to follow MacLeans as he visits surrounding areas talking to blacks and whites to see what they think about the recent and current push to gain justice for the Murders of the 60's. The blacks and whites are talking to each trying to figure out a way to live together as the go down the "redeption road". Many know the Past won't just die. Readers will be interest to see what these people are doing to gain respect from the rest of the country. Readers of "The Help" a current best selling novel need to read this non fiction work which will add to their understanding of the violence of the 60's.

The Past is Never Dead is not just a true crime novel. It's a well-told story about the Seale trial, but the real story for me was how the people of the state are attempting to move beyond their bloody past. I was particularly interested in the story of how the town of Sumner orgainzed the Emmett Till Commission. Black and white members of the commission learned to work together for a common end - to raise funds to preserve the courthouse where the Till murder trial had taken place and to formally express their regret to Till's family. MacLean also wrote about the attitudes of ordinary citizens - both black and white - and their takes on the state's past and what they are concerned with today. Altogether, a facinating look at a state I knew virtually nothing about except for its stereotypes, and one I will not regard in the same way again. Definitely worth reading!

On a steamy May Saturday in 1964,two young black men, still very much alive, were chained to engine blocks and heaved over the side of a boat into a tributary of the Mississippi River. Just outsife Meadeville, Misss. Harry N. MacLean's compelling new book about the trial of James Ford Seale, the Klan member finally being tried for the crimes, tells the sordid tale of the Klan run wild in rural Mississippi in the '50s and '60s and their many well-known murders, some made famous on film. But McLean, who spent weeks in the courtroom talking with the observers and trial participants, also believes that by the state's revisiting the decades old crime, Mississippi is hoping to atone for those sins. A lawyer himself, and author of the best-selling true crime novel "In Broad Daylight", gives poignant descriptions of the trial victims and their survivors, the now very old and very ill defendant, his mostly absent family, the top-of-the-line attorneys and those who have just come to watch and listen and comment. But he also takes us across the state to towns from the Gulf Coast to the piney hills and even to the Ole Miss vs. LSU football game to help us understand the perceptions of the the state's past and present of today's Mississipians.

Another riveting tale from author Harry MacLean, this time concentrating on the deep south. MacLean's ability to not only get into the real facts but also to present a subtle yet powerful understanding of the community and human dynamics is unparalleled. MacLean is one of the foremost authors of true crime today and "The Past..." demonstrates that his writing continues in the realm of the `must read'.

In "The Past Is Never Dead" Harry MacLean has captured the mindset of the poorest state in the former Confederacy as it was in the mid-twentieth century. Using the trial of James Ford Seale as his centerpiece, MacLean shows the reader how Mississippi (and by inference, the entire deep South) has changed in the last sixty years. His writing is engaging, the subject matter is fascinating, and his treatment of the principal characters is fair minded and empathetic. This book is a must for anyone wishing to more deeply understand this country's recent history.