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Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America |  | Author: Sharon Davies
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $16.79
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Seller: PLANET BOOKS
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 341549
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0195379799
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.8460976178109042
EAN: 9780195379792
ASIN: 0195379799
Publication Date: February 16, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
It was among the most notorious criminal cases of its day. On August 11, 1921, in Birmingham, Alabama, a Methodist minister named Edwin Stephenson shot and killed a Catholic priest, James Coyle, in broad daylight and in front of numerous witnesses. The killer's motive? The priest had married Stephenson's eighteen-year-old daughter Ruth--who had secretly converted to Catholicism three months earlier--to Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican migrant and practicing Catholic.
Having all but disappeared from historical memory, the murder of Father Coyle and the trial of Reverend Stephenson that followed are vividly resurrected in Sharon Davies's Rising Road. As Davies reveals in remarkable detail, the case laid bare all the bigotries of its time and place: a simmering hatred not only of African Americans, but of Catholics and foreigners as well. In one of the case's most interesting twists, Reverend Stephenson hired future U.S. Supreme Court justice Hugo Black to lead his defense team. Though Black would later be regarded as a champion of civil rights, at the time the talented defense lawyer was only months away from joining the Ku Klux Klan, which held fundraising drives to finance Stephenson's defense. Entering a plea of temporary insanity, Black and his client used both religion and race--accusing the Puerto Rican husband of being "a Negro"--in the hopes of persuading the jury to forgive the priest's murder.
Placing this story in its full social and historical context, Davies brings to life a heinous crime and its aftermath, in a brilliant, in-depth examination of the consequences of prejudice in the Jim Crow era.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 Extraordinary and Moving Tale January 15, 2010
Middle-aged Professor (NY'er living in Ohio)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
Rising Road takes one of the first "trials of the century," the murder of a catholic priest in 1920's Birmingham, Alabama, and brings it vividly to life. Like the best works in this nonfiction genre, such as Arc of Justice or Seabiscuit, the author turns what must have been painstaking historical research into a page-turning narrative that places us in the United States of 100 years ago in fully realized detail. What is so wonderful about this book are the combination of a great story--love, race, religion, family conflict--with celebrity added in (future Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black has a prominent part) together with fascinating social history and, to top it off, an "inside look" at a criminal case from the expert perspective of a law professor and former prosecutor. I learned a great deal from this book while enjoying it like a novel. Although there are very few living souls who can remember the events recounted in Rising Road (and one suspects Davies must have tracked them down and interviewed them), very few readers of this book will ever forget them. I know I wont. Highly recommended.
Rising Road gives you a slice of time February 18, 2010
Note Taker (Sunderland, MA USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
My first thought after reading Ms. Davies Rising Road was "I can't wait for her next book." As an academic librarian, with an interest in history, sociology, anthropology and politics, I have read many non-fiction works written for the academic scholar. What a pleasure it was to find myself reading a page-turner that was both informative and entertaining. I especially enjoyed it when Ms. Davies interjected witty editorial comments into the narration. They acted to draw the reader further in to become part of the story. Her courtroom descriptions are detailed enough to satisfy any attorney reading the book, but are clear enough to be understood by the layperson. I would certainly not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone with an interest in legal studies, history, and woman's studies.
Rising Road January 14, 2010
Plum W
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a beautifully written book that captures your attention from the very first page. Although it's a true story it reads more like a novel, with the same sort of page-turning excitement as the story builds. I generally don't like non-fiction but this was a fascinating book. The author manages to convey the sense of time and place so well that I could see this as a movie in my mind.
Lest We Forget March 5, 2010
gail powers (Harbor Country, Mi,N. Naples, FL, Chicago area)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Funded by the Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and and Ethnicity, this book revisits a long forgotten trial which exposed prevalent attitudes toward race and bigotry in the early 20th century.
Fundamentally what occured was the only child of a Methodist minister, Ruth Stephenson, converted to Catholicism and married a Puerto Rican immigrant named Pedro 'Pete' Gussman in a catholic ceremony against her parents wishes. Ruth's father(Rev. Edwin Stephenson) was infuriated by the action and confronted the priest (James Doyle) who performed the marriage and killed Fr. Doyle at point blank range leaving a large whole in the priest's left temple.
In 1921, when the murder occured in Birmingham AL, most (if not all) states had laws on their books banning marriage between whites and non-whites. While racism was present in even the most northern of states, the climate in the deep south was nothing less than explosive. In mounting the defense of Rev. Stephenson, future Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black was retained. While known as an advocate of civil rights during his tenure in the Court, this was light years away. In order to subsidize the defense, the Ku Klux Klan sponsored benefits. In fact, Black eventually joined the Klan. Stephenson's defense team, using a plea of temporary insanity, pandered to the most basic fears of the white protestant populus by using race and religion to justify Stephenson's actions.
From a legal perspective, author Sharon Davies has done a magnificent job of walking her reader through the legal atmosphere of a time some 90 years ago and the prevelant attitudes toward race and religion. Somewhat surprising given current attitudes and legal advancements, subtle (and maybe not too subtle) tactics and tricks in the courtroom made securing a conviction a virtual impossibility.
In 1921 America this case generated a lot of news and polarized a nation. I found it ironic that its high profile publicity, explosive nature, and the questionable court proceedings rendered it all but a forgotten footnote. A well written, thought provoking and interesting book that immediately engages its reader, I heartily recommend this book.
Rising Road: a page-turning tale of murder and injustice. February 20, 2010
C. D. Cunha (Windham, NH, US)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Take one Methodist minister, add a romance between his daughter and a Catholic paperhanger, mix with a future Supreme Court justice and a Catholic priest and what do you get? A page-turning tale of murder and injustice. Sharon Davies' Rising Road is a compelling real life story that grips the reader and won't let go. This story is well written and worth reading. I highly recommend it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
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