Rating: 
Summary: Southern Gothic
Review: Oney's gripping and nuanced account of the murder of Mary Phagan and the subsequent trial, conviction, sentence commutation, and lynching of Leo Frank vividly brings to life a mostly bygone American world of industrial exploitation of child labor, rampant racism and anti-Semitism, volatile sectional rivalries, and bareknuckled competition among multiple daily newspapers in a single city. Georgia and its sons and daughters are presented in a manner that allows the reader first to understand the various perspectives and only later to make judgments about the fascinating cast of characters. As to many, the judgment of history and the reader is harsh indeed, but Oney's ability to induce us to sympthatize with a cast of characters that ranges from the morally brave to the cravenly coward is equal to that of the finest novelist.
Rating:
Summary: As Definitive As It Can Get
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Detailed, Researched, Definative Account of Frank Lynching
Review: 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 his prison cell by a lynch mob and hanged in Marietta. The real breakthrough of Oney's book, however, is that it was a state crime. It had to be. Frank was one of the most famous prisoners in America, and the lynch mob literally came into the heavily guarded prison and within minutes snatched Frank and left. One of the ringleaders of the lynching was former governor Joe Brown, whose statue resides today at the Georgia State capitol building. Oney produces a thoroughly researched list of names of the lynchers and organizers of the lynching of Leo Frank
The lynching of Leo Frank is a story which embodies America's fear and power and serves as an exemplar of southern hatred towards northerners and Jews. After establishing himself as a journalist, having written articles for Esquire, GQ, and the New Yorker, Oney wrote an article about the murder of Mary Phagan for Esquire Magazine. So enthralled in the subject, he felt he had to pursue it. "And the Dead Shall Rise" is a product of seventeen years, longer than Mary Phagan lived, of extreme research. Oney, not a Jew, tried to take the most objective standpoint as possible. When starting the book he erased all previous preconceptions about the case. He dug up all of the old newspapers, affidavits, and detective work to present in the book. He interviewed many of the remaining relatives of people involved in the case, obtaining valuable information. Also, the book is filled with historical events from Atlanta and Georgia history that help the reader understand the events of the trial, providing readers not only with information about Leo Frank but about the history of Atlanta's Black and Jewish communities. The book is presented as facts, and he is able to keep the prose captivating without giving too many of his own opinions, letting readers decide. Oney remarked that he believed Frank was "Ninety-Five percent innocent" (a remark which I scoffed at due to my preconceptions of the case as a Jew) leaving the door a little bit ajar and revealing his true objectivity. Oney takes advantage of his skills as a journalist and as a historian, which is for the best unless you are opposed to stuffy writing. All in all, Oney does an incredible job with this book, establishing himself among the great historians.
"And the Dead Shall Rise" needed to be written. Our generation, and the generations to come, needs to be informed about these darker sides of history. Oney provides an extremely detailed account of an incident that may very well have been forgotten. Enthralling and informing readers, Oney has produced an astounding historical work filled with rich detail. Anyone who wants to learn more about the darker side of Georgia's (and America's) past must read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive exploration of a tragic injustice
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Holy Cow. I agree with "Twisted and Torn" from Atlanta
Review: 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 portraits of the many individuals nationwide who were involved in the case are excellent, with the most interesting being that of lawyer William Smith. Smith, after coaching Conley and thus assisting in Frank's conviction, became convinced that the trial's outcome was wrong, and began doing his own research into the case, amassing a body of facts that should have come to light during the trial. Although Conley is now generally thought to have been the true culprit, Oney quite rightly does not come down on one side or the other. He reports the evidence as given at the trial, almost all of it circumstantial, and the contradictions, and the evidence on both sides tainted by bribery. The result is a spectacular demonstration of narrative power through intensive detail; _And the Dead Shall Rise_ is factual history written with all the dash of a thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling History
Review: 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 portraits of the many individuals nationwide who were involved in the case are excellent, with the most interesting being that of lawyer William Smith. Smith, after coaching Conley and thus assisting in Frank's conviction, became convinced that the trial's outcome was wrong, and began doing his own research into the case, amassing a body of facts that should have come to light during the trial. Although Conley is now generally thought to have been the true culprit, Oney quite rightly does not come down on one side or the other. He reports the evidence as given at the trial, almost all of it circumstantial, and the contradictions, and the evidence on both sides tainted by bribery. The result is a spectacular demonstration of narrative power through intensive detail; _And the Dead Shall Rise_ is factual history written with all the dash of a thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but lacks momentum and depth
Review: This book starts off extremely promising, with interesting information on Atlanta in the early 1900s, and the mood that surrounds that city when Leo Frank, a Jewish Cornell man, is arrested for the murder of Mary Phagan, a little girl who worked in his pencil factory. Despite serious doubts as to his guilt, Leo Frank is convicted, and eventually lynched for his alleged crime. There are three major ways in which I believe this book fails. First, the author, Steve Oney, is a journalist and it shows. He writes in far too much detail regarding insignificant facts, causing the reader's attention to wane. Second, he tries not to take sides, which doesn't sit well when writing a book about a wrongful conviction and a lynching. The second major fault in this book is its lack of explanation as to why Atlanta lynched a white Jewish man at the height of the Jim Crow South. The beginning of this book is relatively fast paced and interesting. However, when Frank's trial begins, Oney gives an almost word for word recount, material that might be interesting in a legal context, but it hardly makes for fascinating reading. If I were to read this book over again, I would skip the entire trial, making this book 300 pages shorter. Oney's journalistic background also shows itself through his focus on the media at the time. This actually is extremely interesting and well-researched, but perhaps the book should have been called "Leo Frank and the Media," which would have better prepared readers for its real focus. By explaining the trial in such detail, it seems like Oney is trying to place the blame for Leo Frank's demise on poor legal defense and even a probability of guilt. While Oney stays true to his goal of objectivity, this neutrality has no place in a story of wrongful conviction and lynching. Even if Leo Frank were guilty of the crime he was convicted of, something most Southern scholars dispute, the barbarity of his punishment and circus atmosphere of his trial render objectivity meaningless and even malicious. This book also lacks any sort of explanation for what might have led to Frank's lynching. Oney hints at a pervasive anti-Semitism in the South, but only in passing. It seems to me that any story of lynching needs to be put into context. Oney also discusses the (at the time) recent closings of Atlanta's houses of prostitution, which caused a rise in sexual hysterics, which was taken out on the murderer and rapist of Mary Phagan, no matter who it was. This is an interesting theory, one that I had not heard, and this book would have been well served by a discussion on this topic longer than the two pages it gets, obliquely, here. Finally, I ended this book not knowing who Leo Frank or Mary Phagan were. Indeed, the people most closely involved in the crime itself are strangers to the reader. Instead, more information is given to the journalists and attorneys who took his case as a cause celebre. This is well and good, but as stated earlier, the title of this book is misleading. Something referring to the media would have been more apt.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Rendering
Review: This is a gripping, disturbing story, told in epic fashion. Oney's talents are many: he is a storyteller who does not lose sight of the analysis; a historian capable of telling both the big and little picture; a talented researcher who knows how to use his material; adept at charting his way through arcane legal proceedings. really, this is an unusually well-done book about an important event, and well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Rendering
Review: This is a gripping, disturbing story, told in epic fashion. Oney's talents are many: he is a storyteller who does not lose sight of the analysis; a historian capable of telling both the big and little picture; a talented researcher who knows how to use his material; adept at charting his way through arcane legal proceedings. really, this is an unusually well-done book about an important event, and well worth reading.
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