The Informant

The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo

Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book The Informant by Gary May, Yale University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Gary May ISBN: 9780300129991
Publisher: Yale University Press Publication: October 1, 2008
Imprint: Yale University Press Language: English
Author: Gary May
ISBN: 9780300129991
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication: October 1, 2008
Imprint: Yale University Press
Language: English

In The Informant, historian Gary May reveals the untold story of the murder of civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, shot to death by members of the violent Birmingham Ku Klux Klan at the end of Martin Luther King’s historic Voting Rights March in 1965. The case drew national attention and was solved almost instantly, because one of the Klansman present during the shooting was Gary Thomas Rowe, an undercover FBI informant. At the time, Rowe’s information and subsequent testimony were heralded as a triumph of law enforcement. But as Gary May reveals in this provocative and powerful book, Rowe’s history of collaboration with both the Klan and the FBI was far more complex.
Based on previously unexamined FBI and Justice Department Records, The Informant demonstrates that in their ongoing efforts to protect Rowe’s cover, the FBI knowingly became an accessory to some of the most grotesque crimes of the Civil Rights era--including a vicious attack on the Freedom Riders and perhaps even the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
A tale of a renegade informant and an intelligence system ill-prepared to deal with threats from within, The Informant offers a dramatic and cautionary tale about what can happen when secret police power goes unchecked.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In The Informant, historian Gary May reveals the untold story of the murder of civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, shot to death by members of the violent Birmingham Ku Klux Klan at the end of Martin Luther King’s historic Voting Rights March in 1965. The case drew national attention and was solved almost instantly, because one of the Klansman present during the shooting was Gary Thomas Rowe, an undercover FBI informant. At the time, Rowe’s information and subsequent testimony were heralded as a triumph of law enforcement. But as Gary May reveals in this provocative and powerful book, Rowe’s history of collaboration with both the Klan and the FBI was far more complex.
Based on previously unexamined FBI and Justice Department Records, The Informant demonstrates that in their ongoing efforts to protect Rowe’s cover, the FBI knowingly became an accessory to some of the most grotesque crimes of the Civil Rights era--including a vicious attack on the Freedom Riders and perhaps even the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
A tale of a renegade informant and an intelligence system ill-prepared to deal with threats from within, The Informant offers a dramatic and cautionary tale about what can happen when secret police power goes unchecked.

More books from Yale University Press

Cover of the book A Darwinian Left by Gary May
Cover of the book A Voice Still Heard by Gary May
Cover of the book The Elements of Teaching by Gary May
Cover of the book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States by Gary May
Cover of the book Forging the Past by Gary May
Cover of the book The Hearing-Loss Guide by Gary May
Cover of the book The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936 by Gary May
Cover of the book La Vida Doble by Gary May
Cover of the book Europe's Deadlock by Gary May
Cover of the book The Creative Artist's Legal Guide: Copyright, Trademark and Contracts in Film and Digital Media Production by Gary May
Cover of the book Bernard Berenson by Gary May
Cover of the book The Field of Cloth of Gold by Gary May
Cover of the book The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep by Gary May
Cover of the book Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals by Gary May
Cover of the book 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Gary May
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy