The Past Is Never Dead: The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi's Struggle for Redemption

by Harry N. MacLean

On May 2, 1964, Klansman James Ford Seale picked up two black hitchhikers and drowned both young men in the Mississippi River. Seale spent more than forty years a free man, before finally facing trial in 2007. There could have been two defendants in the resulting James Ford Seale for kidnapping and murder, and the State of Mississippi for complicity-knowingly aiding, abetting, and creating men like Seale.In The Past Is Never Dead, best-selling author Harry MacLean follows Seale's trial, the legal difficulties of prosecuting kidnapping and murder charges decades after the fact, and the strain on a state contending with a past that can't be forgiven. MacLean's narrative is at once the account of a gripping legal battle and an acute meditation on the possibility of redemption.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Social Justice

290 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Harry MacLean, an Edgar Award winning true crime writer (In Broad Daylight) has changed genre's with his new novel, "The Joy of Killing." Variously described as a literary thriller, a psychological thriller or philosophical thriller, the book earned a rave review from Kirkus:
"MacLean’s writing is lyrical, ebbing and flowing like a deep riptide that conceals the danger beneath; there is something unsavory and even panic-inducing about being pulled inside his tale. . . A dizzying and delirious meditation on desire, violence, guilt, and philosophical justification."
The book will be on sale in early July.

MacLean's first book was “In Broad Daylight,” published by Harper Collins. This book tells the story of the killing of a town bully on the main street of a small town in northwest Missouri. It won an Edgar Award for Best True Crime and was a New York Times Bestseller for 12 weeks. Brian Denehey stars as the bully in the movie version. “In Broad Daylight” became available as an e-book July 2012.

MacLean’s second book was “Once Upon A Time, a True Story of Memory, Murder and the Law.” Also published by Harper Collins, it tells the true story of a man on trial for murder based solely on his daughter’s “repressed memory” of witnessing him murder her playmate 20 years earlier. “Once Upon a Time” was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Basic Books published his third book, “The Past Is Never Dead, The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi’s Search for Redemption,” which was shortlisted for the William Saroyan Award, given by Stanford University.

MacLean released “About In Broad Daylight, the Story Behind the Book,” in the fall of 2014.

MacLean’s first career was as a lawyer. He graduated from the University of Denver College of Law, magna cum laude, and also received a master’s degree in Law and Sociology from DU. He worked as a trial lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission and as a magistrate in Denver Juvenile Court. He taught as an Adjunct Professor at DU Law. He served as First Assistant Attorney General for the state of Colorado, and as General Counsel of the Peace Corp during the Carter Administration.
For the past twenty years he has worked as a labor arbitrator and author.

His next effort, a memoir, will tell the story of his year working undercover as a prison guard in a maximum security prison in Delaware.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Past is Never Dead by Harry MacLean is the story of two murders that were overshadowed by the murders of the civil rights workers during Freedom Summer. The bodies of these two young, Black men were found only because the FBI was frantically searching for the bodies of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner because suddenly the nation's focus was on Mississippi due to Goodman and Schwerner being white.

The book follows the 2007 trial of the main suspect and the information that has been hidden for forty years by local and federal authorities. MacLean states that the trial should have featured an additional defendant, the state of Mississippi. I would add a third defendant-the federal government.

The story is disjointed at times and I only give this book four starts instead of three because, to my knowledge, it is the first book that has been written on the case.

A great podcast, Someone Knows Something-Season 3, regarding this case can be found here: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sks/season3/...

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

I leaped on this book because I expected it to be about the two young men found in the Mississippi River, accidentally, during the search for the 3 civil rights workers killed by the KKK in 1964. It was that, but only sort of. I learned very little about Moore and Dee, more about his killers, but most of all about the changes in the state since the even earlier killing of Emmett Till. The author went all over the map trying to clarify what Mississippi is about, and he walked away from his story almost as perplexed as when he started. With that said, it was a good, thoughtful read, well written.

[Beverly Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emmett Till's legacy looms large over us to this day. This book is an in-depth walk through the horrors of his death and the trial that followed. Carolyn Bryant died recently, and although she recanted her claims which led to Till's lynching, she was never charged in his murder. “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him,” Bryant said. This remains one of the most egregious acts ever committed, and added much needed fuel to the Civil Rights Movement. The story is forever haunting, and MacLean does an excellent job of insuring we shall never forget.

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of James Ford Seale and his trial for the killings of two Black youth in May,1964. After 43 years the government arrests and tries Seale for the murders. The author traces the events that led up to the trial. He details the events that led to the murders and why it took so long for the defendant to be tried.
Along with this case the author offers information on the history of Mississippi's racial history. Included is a synopsis of other civil rights murders in the state. He Emmett Till case and the murder of the three civil rights workers in 1964 are the main cases. The author tries to convey to the reader the culture of race relations in the state and how the state is viewed by the rest of the nation. The author concludes that relations are improving slowly but steadily. Interesting read.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this was an interesting book, the author jumped around too much between the trial of James Ford Seale, the early history of Mississippi, other Civil Rights trials of the 60's, and current culture. I understand that he was trying to paint a backdrop to give the trial perspective, but it became distracting trying to keep the various names and eras straight. The story wasn't as gripping as I thought it was going to be but I did learn a lot about the difficulties of prosecuting a crime that is 30+ years old.

[Teresa]

I loved it!

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look into the small southern towns with deep racial hatred.