Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Memoirs

A SHOT IN THE MOONLIGHT

Ben Montgomery

How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South

The little-known true story of George Dinning, a freed slave, and Colonel Bennett H. Young, a Confederate war hero, who joined forces to take on a Kentucky mob in court after Dinning was beaten almost to death for defending his farm against white attackers.

The remarkable story of George Dinning has been largely forgotten: at a time when America and the world are reckoning with violent and racist pasts, A SHOT IN THE MOONLIGHT sheds light on a historical story of racial violence, injustice, and the importance of reparations.

After moonrise on the cold night of January 21, 1897, a mob of twenty-five white men gathered in a patch of woods near Big Road in southwestern Simpson County, Kentucky. Half carried rifles and shotguns, and a few tucked pistols in their pants. Their target? George Dinning, a freed slave who'd farmed peacefully in the area for 14 years, and had been wrongfully accused of stealing livestock from a neighboring farm. When the mob began firing through the doors and windows of Dinning's house, he fired back in self-defense, shooting and killing the son of a wealthy Kentucky family.

So began one of the strangest legal episodes in American history -- one that ended with Dinning becoming the first black man in America to win damages after a wrongful murder conviction.

Drawing on a wealth of never-before-published material, bestselling author Ben Montgomery resurrects this dramatic and largely forgotten story, and the unusual convergence of characters -- among them a Confederate war hero-turned-lawyer named Bennett H. Young, Kentucky governor William O'Connell Bradley, and George Dinning himself -- that allowed this thrilling but unlikely story of justice to unfold in a time and place where justice was all too rare.

Ben Montgomery is a former enterprise reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and founder of the narrative journalism website Gangrey.com. In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting and won the Dart Award and Casey Medal for a series called "For Their Own Good," about abuse at Florida's oldest reform school. He lives in Tampa with his three children. He is the author of The Man Who Walked Backward (Little, Brown; 2018; optioned for film), The Leper Spy, and Grandma Gatewood's Walk.

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Book Published 2021-01-26 by Little, Brown Spark

Comments

True racial reconciliation requires that America take a hard and honest look at its past, and, to that end, A Shot in the Moonlight is essential reading. Ben Montgomery brings his considerable skills as a writer and reporter to the story of George Dinning, a Black man who somehow survived vigilante violence and found justice in 1897 Kentucky. More broadly, in his elegant narrative, Montgomery lays bare the horrors and indignities of the Jim Crow era that remain foundational to the pain of today.

Taut and tense, A Shot in the Moonlight is inspiring and terrifying in its timelessness.

Ben Montgomery's masterful retelling of George Dinning's story reminds us that history is created by ordinary people who confront wrongdoing. This is a powerful portrayal of prejudice at its most depraved, humanity at its most determined, and a judicial system that can, at its best, address injustice. It reminds us of what to hope for in our current troubled times.

A Shot in the Moonlight is a searing narrative, thoroughly engrossing and timelier than ever. With remarkable journalism and meticulous research, Ben Montgomery has passionately crafted a masterwork of nonfiction.

France: Dunod

Ben Montgomery's A Shot in the Moonlight is a meticulously reported account that resurrects a remarkable story of race and justice that had been largely lost to history. Like so many Black Americans throughout our nation's history, George Dinning demanded justice. Unlike so many others, and after a strenuous battle that Montgomery expertly documents, he was ultimately able to secure it.

Ben Montgomery has unearthed and vigorously reported the traumatic and important story of a Black man who had the courage to shoot back. His storytelling and attention to time, context, and detail is nothing short of mesmerizing. This is the feat of one of the country's best nonfiction writers in the world today. A Shot in Moonlight is a challenge, a triumph.