Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File

Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File

A major literary figure tells â€œa searching tale of loss, recovery, and deja vu that is part memoir and what-if speculation, part polemic and exposÃ©â€ (The Washington Post) about two generations of one familyâ€”civil rights martyr Emmett Till and his father, Louisâ€”shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Emmett Till took a train from his home in Chicago to visit family in Money, Mississippi; a few weeks later he returned home dead. Murdered because he was a colored boy and had, allegedly, whistled at a white woman. His mother, Mamie Till, chose to display her sonâ€™s brutalized face in a glass-topped casket, â€œso the world can see what they did to my baby.â€

Emmett Tillâ€™s murder and his motherâ€™s refusal to allow his story to be forgotten have become American legends. But one darkly significant twist in the Till legend is rarely mentioned: Louis Till, Emmettâ€™s father, Mamieâ€™s husband, a soldier during World War II, was executed in Italy for committing rape and murder.

In 1955, when he and Emmett were each only fourteen years old, Wideman saw a horrific photograph of dead Emmettâ€™s battered face. Decades later, upon discovering that Louis Till had been court-martialed and hanged, he was impelled to investigate the tragically intertwined fates of father and son. Writing to Save a Life is â€œpart exploration and part meditation, a searching account of [Widemanâ€™s] attempt to learn more about the short life of Louis Tillâ€ (The New York Times Book Review) and shine light on the truths that have remained in darkness.

Wideman, the author of the award-winning Brothers and Keepers, â€œis a master of quiet meditationâ€¦and his book is remarkable for its insight and powerâ€ (SFGate). An amalgam of research, memoir, and imagination, Writing to Save a Life is essential and â€œimpressiveâ€ (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) readingâ€”an engaging, enlightening conversation between generations, the living and the dead, fathers and sons.
Country USA
Brand Scribner Book Company
Manufacturer Scribner
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9781501147296
ReleaseDate 2017-10-03
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781501147296

Country	USA
Brand	Scribner Book Company
Manufacturer	Scribner
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9781501147296
ReleaseDate	2017-10-03
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781501147296

Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File

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