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Confederacy of Silence
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Plot Summary of Confederacy of Silence
"In the fall of 1988 Handy Campbell, a black senior who played football only two seasons, was leading the Greenwood High (Mississippi) Bulldogs into the championship playoffs with a quarterback's throwing arm that man say is NFL material. Handy's great season was covered by Richard Rubin, a native New Yorker whose first job out of college was sports editor for the Greenwood paper. Rubin covers the games, is moved over to news reporting, and describes the curious ways of the Mississippi Delta region -- whose unfailingly good manners clashes jarringly with its lingering racism.

Six years later, Handy had not only failed to achieve great things in college and pro ball, but he had dropped out of several schools and is in jail for murder. Rubin returned to Mississippi to cover the trial and try to figure out what happened to this promising young player. This 2002 book is a fascinating and thought-provoking tale about life today in the deep South."

David Loftus, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Confederacy of Silence
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Political/social rights fight Yes
Plotlet: - minorities fighting for rights
job/profession: - criminal (killer)
Job/profession/poverty story Yes
Period of greatest activity? - 1950+

Subject of Biography
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity - Black
Nationality - American (!)
How sensitive is this person? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Dumb
Physique - very athletic

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Deep South
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids
Misc setting - prison
Century: - 1980's-Present

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Book makes you feel? - concerned
Commentary on society? Yes
Commentary on - race - decency - justice system - wicked white people - religion
Writer's slant towards subject: - neutral
Story of entire life, or part? - story of set of events during life
Pictures/Illustrations? - None
How much dialogue in bio? - significantly more descript than dialog
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The Innocent Man by John Grisham
Another City, Not My Own by Dominick Dunne
Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery by Norman Mailer
And Never Let Her Go by Ann Rule
Anyone You Want Me To Be by John Douglas


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Richard Rubin Resident Scholar Profiles

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David Loftus  

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