by Melissa Fay Greene (Author)
At 3:37 in the morning of Sunday, October 12, 1958, a bundle of dynamite blew out the side wall of the Temple, Atlanta's oldest and richest synagogue. The devastation to the building was vast-but even greater were the changes those 50 sticks of dynamite made to Atlanta, the South, and ultimately, all of the United States (Detroit Free Press). Finalist for the National Book Award, The Temple Bombing is the brilliant and moving examination of one town that came together in the face of hatred, a book that rescues a slice of the civil rights era whose lessons still resonate nearly fifty years after that fateful fall day.
Front Jacket
THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY OF A BRUTAL ACT OF HATE
"At 3:37 in the morning of Sunday, Oct. 12, 1958, a bundle of dynamite blew out the side wall of the Temple, Atlanta's oldest and richest synagogue. The devastation to the building was vast--but even greater were the changes those 50 sticks of dynamite made to Atlanta, the South and, ultimately, all of the United States. . . . The synagogue's rabbi, Jacob Rothschild, had been preaching civil rights to his congregation for years. If the bombers thought the dynamite could silence Rothschild, they were sadly misinformed. . . ."
"GREENE SKILLFULLY WEAVES THE TEMPLE BOMBING INTO THE HISTORY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. . . . A profound social context for her compelling portrait of its hero, Rabbi Rothschild."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"THIS BOOK IS ILLUMINATING AS IT IS SHOCKING. . . . The emotional power of the narrative is heightened by the author's gifts as a storyteller. . . . She has talent for bringing scenes vividly alive."
--The New York Times Book Review
"READS LIKE A GRIPPING, BESTSELLING NOVEL . . . How and why this horrific bombing transpired is the book's main subject. Unraveling who would do such a thing becomes a psychological thriller in Greene's hands. . . . The Temple Bombing culminates in the suspenseful trials following the crime."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"RICH WITH ARTFULLY DRAWN CHARACTERS . . . We can be grateful to Greene for re-creating the story of an unheralded hero of the civil rights movement."
--Atlanta Journal & Constitution
Author Biography
Melissa Fay Greene is an award-winning author and journalist whose writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic Monthly, the Chicago Tribune, and Newsweek. She is also the author of Last Man Out: The Story of the Springhill Mine Disaster and There Is No Me Without You (Bloomsbury Press). She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.