Synopses & Reviews
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A Peculiar Tribe of People is the sort of true crime that has wings
This is one of those stories that, in many ways, truly is stranger than fiction. I simply could not put it down.” January magazine, naming A Peculiar Tribe one of the twelve best non-fiction books of 2010
Rick Huttos booka fascinating tale of murder and deceptionprovides a sobering glimpse into the prejudices and corruption of preCivil Rights Georgia.”
President Jimmy Carter
A southern grotesque that comes complete with stately mansions, murder most vile, forbidden sex, a pot-boiling trial, and a denouement worthy of a Greek tragedy. . . . But wait, theres more! After being acquitted of murder, but convicted of sodomy and somehow finding another wife (18 years his senior), Burge stumbled into an ending that even Sophocles wouldnt wish on his worst enemy.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The 1960 murder of the wife of a Macon, Georgia, slumlord eager to climb the social ladder propels Huttos real-life Southern gothic tale. . . . [T]he story and its eccentric cast make this solid book worth the read.” Publishers Weekly
A stunning glimpse into a world lost to the pages of history. With characters so deceptive, it takes a sleuth to identify pure evil. Huttos book is a race to the finish!”
Nancy Grace
A rich, insightful narrative with people straight out of a Flannery OConner novel, Richard Jay Huttos A Peculiar Tribe of People is both compelling and brilliantly executed.” M. William Phelps, award-winning author of fifteen books, including The Devils Rooming House
Review
A Peculiar Tribe of People is the sort of true crime that has wings
This is one of those stories that, in many ways, truly is stranger than fiction. I simply could not put it down.” January magazine, naming A Peculiar Tribe one of the twelve best nonfiction books of 2010
A southern grotesque that comes complete with stately mansions, murder most vile, forbidden sex, a pot-boiling trial and a denouement worthy of a Greek tragedy
But wait, theres more! After being acquitted of murder, but convicted of sodomy and somehow finding another wife (18 years his senior), Burge stumbled into an ending that even Sophocles wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.” Bo Emerson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rick Huttos booka fascinating tale of murder and deceptionprovides a sobering glimpse into the prejudices and corruption of pre-civil rights Georgia.” President Jimmy Carter
Huttos book is a remarkable chronicle of Deep South scumbaggery... presented with all the insanity and loopy legality one expects from a mid-20th-century court drama in the Deep South... Hutto does a fine job of unearthing this story despite overwhelming resistance and the chasm of time.” Flagpole magazineA stunning glimpse into a world lost to the pages of history. With characters so deceptive, it takes a sleuth to identify pure evil. Huttos book is a race to the finish!” Nancy Grace
The 1960 murder of the wife of a Macon, Georgia, slumlord eager to climb the social ladder propels Hutto's real-life Southern gothic tale. . . . Hutto . . . goes into great detail describing [Chester] Burge's twisted family historyparticularly how it intersected with prominent Macon families, many of whom the author interviewedand the explosive court battle over Mary's murder. . . .[T]he story and its eccentric cast make this solid book worth the read.” Publishers Weekly
A rich, insightful narrative with people straight out of a Flannery OConnor novel, Richard Jay Huttos A Peculiar Tribe of People is both compelling and brilliantly executed. A true-crime page-turner with as much grace, pizzazz and class as any Macon, Georgia, sunset.” M. William Phelps, award-winning author of fifteen books, including The Devils Rooming House
This story, with its nexus of lust, race, and class set among the columned mansions of cotton-town segregation, oozes all that fertilizes Southern Gothicka
Hutto dishes up the squalor in a writing style that gleams with the polish accorded heirloom silver.” 11th Hour
[A]n absorbing tale of greed, lust and assorted sordid outcomes that reads like the best fiction, yet is completely true... Every page in this terrific book reveals a new and interesting cast member. His rogues gallery of characters, both male and female, should give a Hollywood talent agencys character actors fodder for award winning acting opportunities.... Hutto has produced a well-researched and absorbing book that never stoops to the cheap shot. Indeed, it is his classy writing and tone that keeps the story from meandering toward the tawdry side of the literary neighborhood, and guarantees that the reader will keep asking for more as pages are turned.” Rome (GA) News Tribune
Synopsis
On May 12, 1960, as John F. Kennedy campaigned for the presidency, Chester Burge—slumlord, liquor runner, and the black sheep of the proud (and wealthy) Dunlap family of Macon, Georgia—lay in a hospital bed, recovering from surgery. He listened to the radio as the news reported that his wife had just been murdered. Police soon ruled out robbery as a motive, and suspicion centered upon the Ku Klux Klan, which two weeks earlier had descended upon his house to protest his renting homes in white neighborhoods to black families. Then, on June 1, Chester was charged with the murder, and when the trial finally began, the sweet Southern town of Macon witnessed a story of epic proportions—a tale of white-columned mansions, an insane asylum, real people as “Southern grotesque” as the characters of Flannery OConnor, and a volatile mix of taboo interracial relationships and homosexuality.
Synopsis
A true southern tale of racism, murder, and taboo sex.
Synopsis
A true southern tale of racism, murder, and taboo sex.
About the Author
Richard Jay Hutto is the author of Entitled: American Women, Titled Husbands, and the Pursuit of Excess, Crowning Glory: American Wives of Princes and Dukes, and Their Gilded Cage: The Jekyll Island Club Members. Formerly the White House Appointments Secretary to the Carter family and the chairman of the Georgia Council for the Arts.