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Hellhound on his Trail
Hellhound on his Trail
Oct 6, 2024 12:13 PM

Author:Hampton Sides

Hellhound on his Trail

Hellhound on His Trail is the story of two very different men whose lives catastrophically interweaved over the course of some nine months in the late 1960s: one was a thief and con man called James Earl Ray, the other one of the greatest American figures of the twentieth century, Martin Luther King Jr.

Hampton Sides follows in Ray's footsteps as he escapes from prison, creates a new identity for himself and becomes convinced of his mission to kill King. Hellhound on His Trail is equally the story of King himself in his last months, fighting to keep his ideals alive in the face of intensive FBI surveillance and his own exhausted frustration.

With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Ray and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the fateful moment, on 4 April 1968 at a Memphis hotel, when the drifter finally caught up with his prey. Nationwide riots were sparked by the assassination, followed by the largest manhunt in American history.

Reviews

A remarkable achievement... he manages to combine meticulous research with a writing style that captures the pacing and tension of a compulsive fictional thriller...a powerful, passionately felt retelling of an event that shook the world.

—— Siobhan Murphy , Metro

An exercise in pure narrative, a nonfiction thriller in which the pace quickens as we approach the late afternoon of Thursday, April 4, 1968.

—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday Times

Viscerally dramatic... creates the momentum of a tightly constructed nonfiction film... spellbinding... bold, dynamic, unusually vivid

—— Janet Maslin , New York Times

A comprehensive account of the effect the Scots-Irish had on the American people of today . . . a scholarly work

—— Scottish Home and Country

Certainly provides some illuminating historical perspectives . . . definitely worth a read

—— Morning Star

A bombshell - or else the most brilliant battle flare ever launched by a book . . . not only an engrossing story but also an important work of sociological history

—— Tom Wolfe

James Webb writes like Scots-Irish warriors take to the battlefield - with power and purpose, with courage and clarity. Born Fighting delights and inspires . . . he has written an extraordinary book

—— Randall Wallace, writer of Braveheart

Popular history at its finest

—— Booklist

‘An excellent book throwing light on a fascinating period in history... An enjoyable read… Impeccably well-researched.’

—— Paul Newham , Bookbag

Some might question whether Ferguson really needs 1000 pages to tell half of Kissinger's life. Other will revel in the wealth of detail on this most controversial of American statesman

—— Bee Wilson , Sunday Times

a formidably detailed, closely argued study of the making of one of the giants of 20th-century foreign policy

—— Gideon Rachman , FT

Mark Binelli has succeeded in synthesizing the tragedy and absurdity that Detroiters face each and every day in America’s fastest shrinking city. Yes, things are dire in Motor City, but Binelli refuses to perform an autopsy on a place that still radiates rage, pride, hustle, and hope. Detroit, he discovers, is very much alive

—— Heidi Ewing, director of Detropia

Before turning the buffalo (or the artists) loose on the haunted prairie that was once Detroit, we should ponder why a great American metropolis was allowed to die. Mark Binelli, Motor City native returned, provides a picaresque but unflinchingly honest look at the crime scene. Like Richard Pryor, he has the rare talent to make you laugh and cry at the same time

—— Mike Davis, author of Ecology of Fear

[The Last Days of Detroit] is a brilliant kaleidoscope of everything that is great, broken, inspiring, heart-breaking, and ultimately remarkable about Detroit. Mark Binelli has turned the story of the city, and by extension America, into a glorious, unforgettable work of art

—— Dinaw Mengestu, author of How to Read the Air

At once hilarious and sharp, sweeping and intimate, [The Last Days of Detroit] is an oddly delighted warning from the recent future. With the tender scrutiny of a returning exile, Mark Binelli has written a non-fiction novel about our American experiment, and it’s the most entertaining and persuasive book about this country I’ve read in a very long time

—— Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of A Sense of Direction

Mark Binelli is a first-rate reporter, gifted with the ability to get almost anybody to open up. [The Last Days of Detroit] is searching, wide-angle, honest, deeply moving, and unshakably dark. It is a vivid slice of our time and implies a disquieting prophecy of the future

—— Luc Sante, author of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York

An encounter with a longstanding black resident reveals underlying tensions “Detroit isn't some kind of abstract art project." Binelli's achievement is to make that vividly apparent

—— Andy Beckett , Guardian

Mark Binelli’s The Last Days of Detroit is a magnificent anthem to one of America’s most significant cities. He takes you on a tour into the dark heart of this once vibrant city, the home of the Ford car. This is a beautiful prose poem to a fascinating city and to post-industrial America

—— Patrick Neale , The Bookseller

Succeeds in bringing out angles on Detroit that at least this casual observer hadn’t heard before

—— Rose Jacobs , FT

Both a history and a thoughtful travelogue… British readers might wonder what Detroit has to do with them, but the collapse of manufacturing, its yawning unemployed, the tension generated by a usually white liberal class who seize on gentrification possibilities (and the desire to turn dereliction into abstract art) are universal modern concerns

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

Mark Binelli’s surprisingly joyful book

—— Ed Caesar , Sunday Times

A remarkable trawl through the sorry and tragic recent history of a city that was once heralded as the future of the United States

—— Doug Johnstone , Big Issue

Binellis shows us that a brighter economic future may be possible even in the most benighted of cities

—— Rohan Silva , Prospect

The value of this book lies not just in its compelling story, but in its lessons for all the West

—— Robert Chesshyre , Literary Review

Now the city and above all its people have been brilliantly captured

—— David Goldblatt , Independent

[A] wry, inquisitive survey of Detroit's troubled past and present... Surprisingly joyful

—— Sunday Times

This journalistic account tells an enthralling, balanced story

—— Daily Telegraph
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