Without Mercy: The Stunning True Story of Race, Crime, and Corruption in the Deep South

On Dec. 9, 1938, six black men were executed within 81 minutes in Georgia’s new Tattnall Prison. A seventh man, white, was pardoned by Gov. E.D. Rivers. Race seemingly played a major role in who lived and who died. Beasley focuses on the corruption and deceit of the Klansman governor and the Klan imperial wizard, Hiram Wesley Evans. Rivers used the New Deal to institute major reforms in education and public health, as well as prisons, although, as Beasley observes, “It was sad that of all things, a single new prison [Tattnall] would be a major symbol of progress.” Rivers facilitated crime and corruption, setting up fellow Klansman Evans as “the state’s asphalt king,” and selling pardons. Beasley, coauthor of Inside Coca-Cola and former editor for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, effectively juxtaposes the lives of the black men who were executed with white men who were not, following their passage through the judicial system. Beasley’s well-documented and vivid account ultimately puts capital punishment itself on trial. 8-page b&w photo insert. (Jan.)