He Calls Me By Lightning, S. Jonathan Bass
He Calls Me By Lightning, S. Jonathan Bass
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

He Calls Me By Lightning
The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty

Author: S. Jonathan Bass

Narrator: Mirron Willis

Unabridged: 13 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/02/2017


Synopsis

Caliph Washington's life was never supposed to matter. As a black teenager from the vice-ridden city of Bessemer, Alabama, Washington was wrongfully convicted of killing an Alabama policeman in 1957. Sentenced to death, he came within minutes of the electric chair—nearly a dozen times. A Kafka-esque legal odyssey in which Washington's original conviction was overturned three times before he was finally released in 1972, his story is the kind that pervades the history of American justice. Here, in the hands of historian S. Jonathan Bass, Washington's ordeal and life are rescued from anonymity and become a moving parable of one man's survival and perseverance in a hellish system.

He Calls Me by Lightning is both a compelling legal drama and a fierce depiction of the Jim Crow South that forces us to take account of the lives cast away by systemic racism.

About S. Jonathan Bass

S. Jonathan Bass is a professor at Alabama's Samford University and the author of Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Martin Luther King, Jr., Eight White Religious Leaders, and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail." He lives in Birmingham, Alabama.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brian

Heartbreaking struggle for freedom, looks as though it was a model for the injustices that plague our judicial system today. This is written in such a way that will keep you engaged (& enraged) with vivid storytelling that brings the book to life.......more

Goodreads review by Deb

I read two harsh books at the same time (via Kindle - City of Thorns) and via book He Calls Me Lightning. The unfairness, suffering, and torture was overwhelming. What horrible actions humans will take against each other often feeling justified; and without any pangs of remorse or ethical conscious.......more

Goodreads review by Brady

My rating is probably about 2.5 stars. Took me forever to read because I never really found it compelling enough to really dig into. If you are the least bit familiar with the Jim Crow South, this book doesn't break any new ground. On top of that, I didn't find Caliph Washington all that sympathetic......more