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A review by jds70
The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin
2.0
Another reviewer said this isn't the best introduction to James Baldwin. I think they were right. I've never read James Baldwin before. I think I need to read something else to introduce myself to his writing
The blurb is a bit misleading. I was expecting a true crime investigation, a la Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. It wasn't. It's essentially an essay of his (justified) anger regarding the case, & railing (understandably) against the history of racism in America. I'm not saying that's bad, I'm just saying it's not really what I wanted.
What I wanted was to learn about the case. I wanted pictures of the victims; to know who they were. I wanted to learn about the man convicted, not of killing the children, but of killing two adult men, & was assumed to have murdered the children as well, although he was never charged with the child murders. I wanted to know about the authorities involved in the case. Baldwin talks about the FBI's discovery of a pattern, but never mentions exactly what that pattern is. The children were killed in multiple ways. If that's the "pattern" he refers to, it's not a pattern, which begs the question, What makes the FBI think there's a pattern? Baldwin mentions interviewing people involved in the case, but we never learn what was said. Was the KKK involved? Was there a cover-up of some sort? Was Wayne Williams scapegoated &/or railroaded? I think the answer to all three questions is "yes" but I don't know for sure because these theories are briefly mentioned, but never explored. Balwin mentions several times that he is intentionally being vague, & it drove me nuts!
At the time James Baldwin wrote The Evidence of Things Not Seen, the case was only a few years old, so it was fresh in most people's mind. It happened forty years ago. I'm not old enough to remember the Atlanta child murders. I would've liked to know more about the injustice that Wayne Williams has endured, & that the loved ones of the dead children have endured. I wanted to learn about the case.
It just wasn't what I expected, & I didn't learn what I wanted to learn about the case. Sorry Mr. Baldwin. I'll try something else you wrote.
The blurb is a bit misleading. I was expecting a true crime investigation, a la Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. It wasn't. It's essentially an essay of his (justified) anger regarding the case, & railing (understandably) against the history of racism in America. I'm not saying that's bad, I'm just saying it's not really what I wanted.
What I wanted was to learn about the case. I wanted pictures of the victims; to know who they were. I wanted to learn about the man convicted, not of killing the children, but of killing two adult men, & was assumed to have murdered the children as well, although he was never charged with the child murders. I wanted to know about the authorities involved in the case. Baldwin talks about the FBI's discovery of a pattern, but never mentions exactly what that pattern is. The children were killed in multiple ways. If that's the "pattern" he refers to, it's not a pattern, which begs the question, What makes the FBI think there's a pattern? Baldwin mentions interviewing people involved in the case, but we never learn what was said. Was the KKK involved? Was there a cover-up of some sort? Was Wayne Williams scapegoated &/or railroaded? I think the answer to all three questions is "yes" but I don't know for sure because these theories are briefly mentioned, but never explored. Balwin mentions several times that he is intentionally being vague, & it drove me nuts!
At the time James Baldwin wrote The Evidence of Things Not Seen, the case was only a few years old, so it was fresh in most people's mind. It happened forty years ago. I'm not old enough to remember the Atlanta child murders. I would've liked to know more about the injustice that Wayne Williams has endured, & that the loved ones of the dead children have endured. I wanted to learn about the case.
It just wasn't what I expected, & I didn't learn what I wanted to learn about the case. Sorry Mr. Baldwin. I'll try something else you wrote.