Synopses & Reviews
After the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Reverend Robert Spike stepped away from the media spotlight and from Civil Rights politics. As director of the National Council of Churches, he had organized churches to support the passage of both the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. He collaborated with major civil rights leaders on strategy, and he helped the LBJ White House craft legislation and the President's civil rights speeches, especially on the Voting Rights Act. Then in Columbus, Ohio, he was viciously murdered. The murder was never solved. Very little effort went into finding the murderer. The Columbus police and the FBI put a special spin on the story—they hinted the unsolved murder was the brutal end of a gay relationship. During his father's rise in the civil rights movement, Paul Spike lived a life eerily similar to Holden Caulfield's—a young intellectual lost in the labyrinth of booze, drugs, and girls. At Columbia University, he was on the fringes of the S.D.S. Movement. That rootless life ended with his father's murder. He began his search for the meaning of his father's life and death.
In the new afterword, Spike says, "Murder is an indelible stain on a family. It never fades. After 50 years, I understand why I tried to do this. And why I left America. I still dream of justice for my father."
Paul Spike lives in London where he writes about politics, literature, film, and travel for a wide range of newspapers and magazines.
Synopsis
A son tries to understand the violent murder of his fathercivil-rights leader Rev. Robert Spikein 1966.
Synopsis
At the National Council of Churches, Robert Spike had organized American churches to support the passage of both the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, to march in Selma and to organize in Mississippi. An important white leader in the black civil rights struggle, he helped the LBJ White House pass legislation and write crucial civil rights speeches. In the midst of what he described as "the dirtiest fight of my life" struggling to save a federal Mississippi education program, he was viciously murdered in Columbus, Ohio. The murder was never solved. Very little effort went into finding the murderer. The Columbus police and the FBI hinted the unsolved murder was connected to Spike's undisclosed gay life. During his father's rise in the civil rights movement, Paul Spike lived a life typical of a young man in the 1960s, finding his way through a labyrinth of booze, drugs, and girls. At Columbia University, he was active in the 1968 student rebellion and friends with many SDS radicals. That rootless life ended with his father's murder.
Paul Spike lives in London where he writes about politics, literature, film, and travel for a wide range of newspapers and magazines.
Synopsis
New York Times, A Best Book of the Year, 1973
A son tries to understand the violent murder of his father--civil-rights leader Rev. Robert Spike--in 1966.
At the National Council of Churches, Robert Spike had organized American churches to support the passage of both the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, to march in Selma and to organize in Mississippi. An important white leader in the black civil rights struggle, he helped the LBJ White House pass legislation and write crucial civil rights speeches. In the midst of what he described as the dirtiest fight of my life struggling to save a federal Mississippi education program, he was viciously murdered in Columbus, Ohio. The murder was never solved. Very little effort went into finding the murderer. The Columbus police and the FBI hinted the unsolved murder was connected to Spike's undisclosed gay life. During his father's rise in the civil rights movement, Paul Spike lived a life typical of a young man in the 1960s, finding his way through a labyrinth of booze, drugs, and girls. At Columbia University, he was active in the 1968 student rebellion and friends with many SDS radicals. That rootless life ended with his father's murder.
About the Author
Paul Spike: Paul Robert Spike is an American author, editor and journalist. He is the son of civil rights leader Rev. Robert W. Spike. He is the author of five books and writes about politics, literature, film, style, travel and food for a wide variety of U.K. newspapers and magazines.