Ben Montgomery’s fourth book won’t be released until Jan. 26, 2021, but it is already one of the most anticipated novels of the coming year.
"A Shot in the Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South,” was picked No. 10 of a list of 55 new books in 2021 by Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine in December.
“An acclaimed journalist brilliantly evokes the Jim Crow South of 1899, when a freed slave joined forces with a former Confederate in pursuit of justice. Praised by Colson Whitehead and Gilbert King, this lavish, stellar work of narrative nonfiction forces a reckoning with the grim aftermath of a civil war that still rages in hearts and minds today.” — O Magazine on Montgomery’s book
The writer Ben Montgomery
Montgomery, from Moore, Oklahoma, is a graduate of Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, where he was a football standout and editor of the student newspaper. He previously worked for the newspaper in Russellville before reaching escape velocity in a writing career that touched down in Tampa, Florida.
Montgomery’s book has its roots in his newspaper career.
“I spent about three years working on an investigative project for the Tampa Bay Times about police shootings of Black men, and somewhere in there I felt myself longing for a story that didn't have a tragic ending," Montgomery said in a story released by Arkansas Tech. "Some research led me to 1897 and the story of George Dining, a freed slave and peaceful farmer in Kentucky who defended himself and killed one of his would-be lynchers. What made the story even better -- and more timely -- was that the lawyer who helped Dinning sue the mob in federal court pro-bono was a former Confederate soldier who did more than anyone else to promote the Lost Cause. The reason we have so much Confederate statuary in the South is because of that man, Bennett Young. For decades, he raised money to remember the heroes of the Confederacy, spoke at every unveiling and at the same time ran an orphanage for Black children and took on cases like George Dinning's. I found him fascinating. And I found Dinning -- all but forgotten -- to be one of the most courageous Black men in American history."
Montgomery’s previous novels include:
Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail, published in 2014
The Leper Spy: The Story of an Unlikely Hero of World War II, published in 2016
The Man Who Walked Backward: An American Dreamer's Search for Meaning in the Great Depression, published in 2018.
The award-winning, Grandma Gatewood's Walk was a New York Times best seller.
A Shot in the Moonlight will be published by Little, Brown and Company on Jan. 26.
"We know the names of the leaders of the modern [Civil Rights] movement: King, Rosa Parks, John Lewis," Montgomery said. "They stood on the shoulders of forgotten women and men like George Dinning, who essentially refused to be killed, then refused to be quiet. That's worth remembering, and celebrating.”
Newsroom Readers Club is for subscribers to www.ArkansasNewsroom.com and will be a book club to celebrate books that have an Arkansas connection. Some details are still forthcoming as the ongoing pandemic has made planning difficult, but the Club’s first choice is Ben Montgomery’s "A Shot in the Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South.” It won’t be released until Jan. 26, 2021, so there’s still time to add to that Christmas list! Have a suggestion for an upcoming selection? Let us know by email at jeremyArkansasNews@gmail.com or on Facebook or Twitter.
I'm a reader so looking forward to this section. And I love to read about the stories that have taken place in Arkansas. Thank you.