{"product_id":"the-ballad-of-little-river-paul-hemphill-9780817311100","title":"The Ballad of Little River: A Tale of Race and Unrest in the Rural South","description":"\u003cb\u003eA veteran journalist's exploration of a church-burning in south Alabama \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ebecomes a richly rewarding evocation of the Deep South--its land, its people, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eand its sweat--popping summers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e More than an anatomy of a church arson, \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Little River\u003c\/i\u003e is a poignant but hard-hitting biography of one of the poorest areas in the United States--where deer outnumber people. A cauldron of unresolved racial and familial conflict, of heat, boredom, gossip, and grudges, Little River, Alabama, gained notoriety in 1997 as the site of the U.S. government's first conviction under a new hate-crimes law intended to stop a rash of fires set at black churches around the country. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e When journalist Paul Hemphill, son of an Alabama truck driver and veteran writer on the blue-collar South, moved into the area, he discovered a world that time had virtually forgotten--an obscure, isolated community in the swampy woodlands far from the mainstream of American life, a forlorn cluster of poverty and ignorance and dead-end jobs. He met a stew of heroes and villains right out of fiction--\"Peanut\" Ferguson, \"Doll\" Boone, \"Hoss\" Mack, Joe Dees, Murray January, a Klansman named \"Brother \u003cbr\u003e Phil,\" and his stripper wife known as \"Wild Child\"--all swirling in a maelstrom of history and heat. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Originally published in cloth by Free Press, \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Little River\u003c\/i\u003e is Hemphill's gripping look at the southern backwoods, a chilling cautionary tale filled with both kindness and cruelty, told in the steady voice of a master storyteller and one who knows the \u003cbr\u003e human heart. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Paul Hemphill\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0817311106\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780817311100\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Alabama Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/18\/2001\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.90lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.34h x 6.40w x 0.75d","brand":"Paul Hemphill","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44365025116415,"sku":"9780817311100","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_2052c026-ba8d-4201-adfc-c23f05eeeaa7.jpg?v=1697056196","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-ballad-of-little-river-paul-hemphill-9780817311100","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}