And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank

by Steve Oney

Book Overview

The definitive account of one of American history's most repellent and most fascinating moments, combining investigative journalism and sweeping social history "Brilliane.... Years later, the tale of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679421475
• ISBN13: 9780679421474
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 742 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Definitive exploration of a tragic injustice

Steve Oney's book will stand as the definitive account of the Leo Frank case. Frank, the superintendent of an Atlanta pencil factory, was accused of murdering one of his employees, 13-year-old Mary Phagan, in 1913. His trial was conducted in an atmosphere of anti-Semitism, and, despite the lack of solid evidence against him, Frank was found guilty and sentenced to death -- due mainly to testimony from Jim Conley, a factory janitor who was probably the real killer. When Georgia's governor commuted Frank's sentence to life in prison, a lynch mob, formed by several leading citizens of Marietta, abducted Frank from prison and hung him from a tree. Oney retells the whole tragic tale with great detail but also considerable flair. The book clocks in at 700 pages but never feels dense or tedious. It is a spell-binding read that is difficult to put down. (Please disregard complaints by other reviewers that the book is too long or too detailed. This is an exhaustive account; a reasonably intelligent person who does not have the attention span of a gnat will find it no problem to get through.) Oney, a journalist by profession, tells the story with verve and style. Copiously researched and beatifully written, this book isn't just a "true crime" story from long ago. To the perceptive reader, it demonstrates the dangers of mob mentality and the threat posed by demagogues in politics and the media. It also brutally illustrates what can go wrong when people decide to ignore the rule of law.

Thrilling History

There was a time, and it was not too long ago, when lynchings were common in America. It was mostly a southern phenomenon, and it was mostly whites lynching blacks. Because its victim had become an international cause before he was killed, the most famous lynching was that of Leo Frank, not a black but a Jew, in 1915. The tale of this atrocity has been told before, but never with the detail and sweep found in _And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank_ (Pantheon) by Steve Oney. It is a huge book, a result of seventeen years of research, and provides insights into the case from sources that have previously not been consulted. Despite the detail, Oney's essentially chronological narrative maintains intensity throughout. We already know that Frank gets lynched in the end, but the events leading up to the lynching are still suspenseful, and the varied aspects of the aftermath are still surprising.The chronology begins with Mary Phagan, thirteen years old and an employee of the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta, of which Frank was superintendent. On 27 April 1913, her body was discovered in the basement of the factory. Suspicion turned to a black janitor, Jim Conley, who gave three different contradictory versions of his story to police. His final version was that Frank tried to seduce Mary Phagan while Conley stood guard for his superintendent, and then that he and Conley disposed of the body in the basement. When Frank was interviewed, he was visibly nervous, and urged by the Atlanta papers, police arrested him. It was easy for demagogues in Atlanta to rake up the old stories about Jewish plots or financial vampires sucking hard-laboring Christians dry, and whatever Frank's chance in the courtroom, public outrage against him was constant. Convicted, he was given a last minute commutation from death sentence to life imprisonment by the outgoing governor, since his cause was internationally known. Spurred by the demagoguery of Tom Watson and his weekly _Jeffersonian_, citizens of Marietta, Phagan's family home, organized an astonishing military-like operation to break into Frank's prison, transport him to Marietta, and lynch him. The citizens trooped out to see the hanging body, and one woman said she could not stand to see a hanging, "But this - this is different. It is all right. It is - the justice of God." Crowds enjoyed hearing the hymn "That Old Time Religion."Not a single conspirator in the lynching was prosecuted. This was partially because one of their members was put in charge of the grand jury examining the case. Some of them went on to further civic careers. The lynching was a spark in the modern revival of the Ku Klux Klan. It also sparked B'nai B'rith to found the Anti-Defamation League. Tom Watson rode his popularity into the US Senate in 1920. Oney is especially good at giving a social history of Atlanta and the relations between blacks, whites, and Jews within it. His port

As Definitive As It Can Get

Steve Oney admits that much about the murder of little Mary Phagan and the lynching of Leo Frank will never be known, but he has nevertheless done an outstanding job of tracking down as much information as possible in order to tell the story. And the Dead Shall Rise is a superb work of scholarship and journalism. It begins with little Mary's ill fated trip to her workplace in April, 1913 to pick up her pay from Leo Frank,then continues through the discovery of her body in the factory basement,and the subsequent investigation, arrest, and trial of Frank. This was surely one of the first trials of the century for the twentieth century, and Oney takes us through it step by step and witness by witness.After the trial ends with Frank's conviction, Oney chronicles the media frenzy, both pro- and anti-Frank, that swept Georgia and the nation. He details the long appeals process and, when that ended with Frank's conviction confirmed, examines the process by which Georgia's Governor Slaton commuted the death sentence. It is here that the story becomes even more chilling, as Oney details Frank's life in the Milledgeville prison on the one hand and describes the plans being laid to lynch him on the other.I don't believe a full listing of the men involved in Leo Frank's lynching in August, 1915 has ever been published before now. Oney names names, extremely prominent ones in many cases, and fully describes Frank's kidnapping and lynching and the gruesome aftermath when thousands flocked to see his body. The book ends with summings up of the subsequent careers of most of the most prominent characters in the affair.Reading this book was a real shock to me. As a native Georgian I had heard of the Frank case for years. This book was the first time I fully appreciated the frenzy that swept over the state and the stain it left on us for years. I was shocked by the depths of the anti-Semitism and hatred of non-Southerners revealed amongst Georgians at the time. This book needs to be read by everyone, regardless of your background or heritage, in order to remind us of the anger and hatred that can arise within us.

Detailed, Researched, Definative Account of Frank Lynching

Steve Oney's "And the Dead Shall Rise" is the long overdue definitive account of the lynching of Leo Frank and the preceding and succeeding events. The seventeen years Oney spent researching and writing the book are extremely apparent in the painstaking, harrowing, and often excruciating detail. Oney maintains an extremely objective and historical narrative, yet is able to keep the prose lively enough to captivate the reader, as he systematically presents the thoroughly researched facts about the events that occurred almost daily from the murder of little Mary Phagan to the aftermath of the Frank lynching. The combination of Oney's use of irony and occasional analogy along with the cast of Dickensian and often sinister characters (Tom Watson, Hugh Dorsey, Jim Conley) gives the book the feeling of a novel. The title, drawn from a quote by Nietzsche, asserts that by discussing and writing about the dead, we bring them back to life. Without a doubt, the book is deserving of its title for it is exactly what Oney does. Lost in the extreme detail and caught in the emotional battles involved in the case, the reader often feels that the events described are actually occurring. "And the Dead Shall Rise" is the authoritative account of an event which captures the sheer ignorance, hatred and greed of the early twentieth century American south. On April 26, 1913, the thirty ninth anniversary of the end of the civil war, 13 year old Mary Phagan went to collect her $1.20 in wages from Superintendent Leo M. Frank where she worked at the National Pencil factory on Forsyth Street- but she never came back. Frank who was Northern and Jewish was charged of the crime the very next day. Anti-Semitism was an ever present yet rarely spoken of theme in the two year long world famous trial. Nearly everyone involved in the case (Dorsey, Smith, Watson, Rosser, Lanford, Black, Hearst and more) seems to have a political agenda. The guilt or innocence of Leo Frank matters only to many in terms of their political careers. In many ways the authorities were after Frank from the very beginning. When Jim Conley was finally arrested, and and extremely large amount of evidence pointed towards him as the murderer, Dorsey and the Atlanta police department bent their backs to make it look like Conley was only an accomplice to the murder and Leo Frank actually committed the crime. Countless incidents show politicians hunger for power and political agendas. Not to mention the three Atlanta newspapers: the Journal, the Constitution, and the Georgian (run by William Randolph Hearst) who were all trying to make as much money as possible paying little to no heed to who they were accusing or defending. Frank was convicted for the Murder of Mary Phagan and was sentenced to death. Governor Slaton, who knew about more evidence than the public did, shortly before leaving office commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Anti-Semitism in Georgia sky-rocketed, and Frank was dragged from h

And the Dead Shall Rise

I'm from Atlanta, and became interested in the Leo Frank case as a teen in the '50s. I remember many of the actual buildings before they were destroyed to make way for the "New" Atlanta. I read every book, newspaper account, court report, and Internet account that I could find.This book is the best of the best. Oney puts you on the streets and in the buildings of Atlanta at the turn of the last century. He introduces you to the characters and makes you aware of the shifting intrigue and alliances. This is more than a book about little Mary Phagan and Leo Frank - it is a small glimpse of the times. You see the affects of child labor, workweeks of 66+ hours, wealth, poverty, and class warfare.Both sides of the issue are fully laid out. Before reading this book, I had no doubt that Frank was innocent and Connelly was guilty. Now I'm only sure of one thing - the crowd that took law into its own hands robbed us of ever having a chance to find the whole truth.Everyone seemed to play a part in this travesty - the "keystone" cops, attorneys, judges, newspapers, and everyday citizens. The only true innocent is poor Mary Phagan.Great book - a must read for anyone interested in the history of the industrial revolution coming of age in the new south.