Flames after Midnight: Murder, Vengeance, and the Desolation of a Texas Community, Revised Edition

Monte Akers

Published by University of Texas Press 2011

Flames after Midnight

Murder, Vengeance, and the Desolation of a Texas Community, Revised Edition

Monte Akers

https://doi.org/10.7560/726338

Overview
Contents

About this book

What happened in Kirven, Texas, in May 1922, has been forgotten by the outside world. It was a coworker's whispered words, "Kirven is where they burned the [Negroes]," that set Monte Akers to work at discovering the true story behind a young white woman's brutal murder and the burning alive of three black men who were almost certainly innocent of it. This was followed by a month-long reign of terror as white men killed blacks while local authorities concealed the real identity of the white probable murderers and allowed them to go free.

Writing nonfiction with the skill of a novelist, Akers paints a vivid portrait of a community desolated by race hatred and its own refusal to face hard truths. He sets this tragedy within the story of a region prospering from an oil boom but plagued by lawlessness, and traces the lynching's repercussions down the decades to the present day. In the new epilogue, Akers adds details that have come to light as a result of the book's publication, including an eyewitness account of the burnings from an elderly man who claimed to have castrated two of the men before they were lynched.

Author / Editor information

Monte Akers lived in Freestone County, Texas, where the events in this book took place, for nine years. He is now a partner in the Akers & Boulware-Wells law firm in Austin. He is also an adjunct professor at Texas State University–San Marcos.

Reviews

Flames after Midnight vividly captures [a] culture in all its repugnance, exploring the tenor of the times and delving into the character of the story’s central figures. While it cannot by its nature be pleasant to read, it is a well-written and compelling history that in its scope extends beyond Kirven [Texas]. Akers holds up a mirror so that we see ourselves, in historical retrospect, at our worst.

— USA Today

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
PART ONE
Prologue to Part One Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER 1 Eula Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
CHAPTER 2 Kirven, the County, the Country, and the Kings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
CHAPTER 3 The Instant when Music Shatters Glass Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
CHAPTER 4 Sheriff Mayo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
CHAPTER 5 Manhunt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
CHAPTER 6 A "Good Job" in the Early Hours of the Morning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
CHAPTER 7 This Cold World of Care Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
CHAPTER 8 Terror Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
PART TWO
Prologue to Part Two Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
CHAPTER 9 A Visitor from Waco Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
CHAPTER 10 Confirmation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
CHAPTER 11 Doll Rags Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
CHAPTER 12 Greater Irony Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
CHAPTER 13 A Place in Blackest History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
CHAPTER 14 Burning Questions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
CHAPTER 15 Epilogue: A Notoriety Deeply to be Regretted Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
CHAPTER 16 Epilogue to the Revised Edition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
Index to the Epilogue, Revised Edition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 286

eBook

Published: May 25, 2011
ISBN: 9780292729926