This is an important book. It won a Pulitzer, for crying out loud. I know it's important, I'm glad I picked it up. But, for me, I wasn't in the right time and place to love reading it.
I heard about this book when I listened to a podcast the author did called Bone Valley. It's a really good podcast about a man falsely accused of murder and still unable to clear his name. Gilbert King is incredibly interesting to listen to and he mentioned this book a couple of times in the podcast. I thought if the book was anything like the pod, I would be all in.
Devil in the Grove is about many things: the falsely accused in the Jim Crow South; Thurgood Marshall and the risk he took fighting for justice; the systems in place that set in motion decades of injustice, particularly towards Black Americans. Like I said, important.
The problem with the book itself is almost that it was too well-researched. Every detail of every moment is recounted and I felt so buried in the details, I missed the story. Every time he picked up a thread that would draw me in, he would go down a seemingly-unrelated and less important side story and never quite get back on pace.
What this book did do for me is make me want to learn more about some of the people, places and events on which he touched. For example, a badass woman who was reported on civil rights and was known as Big East. She wore a mink coat and her very presence was enough to bring immense respect, especially for a woman her time. Evelyn Cunningham deserves more recognition for the work she did and I was glad King touched on her role in the movement.
The rest of the book, though, had me wishing for something else. A podcast on the same subjects, perhaps.
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