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Blood in the Soil: A True Tale of Racism, Sex, and Murder in the South
Blood in the Soil is the first book about the investigation into the shooting of Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and his country attorney in Gwinnett County, Georgia, in 1978. But this book is not primarily about Larry Flynt, or even his shooter (the serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin), though both men are of course important characters in the story.This true account is told alternately from the perspective of Detective J. Michael Cowart and by following Franklin’s life from childhood through his execution. The monster that was Joseph Paul Franklin was the result of a perfect storm of circumstances, which included poverty, cruel abuse as a child, the detestation and mistrust between blacks and whites, integration, and the hate groups that operated and recruited openly. Detective Cowart tells the story of his first introduction to Franklin, and the cat-and-mouse game that ensued. A self-proclaimed truth-seeker, the detective had to appear to befriend Franklin to get him to provide enough information to prosecute him in the Flynt shooting. In the course of developing this rapport, Cowart gains astonishing insight into many of Franklin’s other cold-blooded killings and crimes, and his twisted justification for them.This book tells of a very real struggle between right and wrong. It details with stark honesty the terrible truths that characterized the South during the volatility of the sixties and seventies, and of the ugly reality that lies just beneath the veneer of a beautiful region known for its warm hospitality. Along the way, it examines some hard lessons about life, trust, and compromise.
234 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2016
17 people are currently reading
403 people want to read
About the author
Carole Townsend
7 books14 followersCarole Townsend is a true Southerner, having been born in Atlanta, living in Nashville for a while during college and going right back to Atlanta upon graduation. Following a brief stint as a New York city resident, she married a southerner, and they've raised their family of six (plus two rescued Golden Retrievers, a Goldendoodle and a chihuahua) in a suburb north of Atlanta.
Townsend loved writing from her very early pre-teen years. After 20 years in the corporate world as a Marketing professional, she realized that her most effective contributions were always in writing. At the age of 40 (when most women reach a blinding clarity envied by the other half), she threw in the corporate towel, rolled up her sleeves, and started chiseling out a living as a freelance writer.
Now 11+ years into a career as a newspaper reporter and columnist, Carole still enjoys writing her column for the Gwinnett Citizen newspaper, (Not So) Common Sense. In it, she muses about the quirky business of life, things both major and minor. Readers appreciate her honest, no-nonsense humor and her love and understanding of all things Southern - the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
In October 2011, Townsend released her first book - "Southern Fried White Trash." The book has been well received for two reasons: The family humor it satirizes speaks to readers everywhere (not just the South) and Townsend's matter-of-fact sense of humor has readers laughing out loud from cover to cover.
Her second book, "Red Lipstick and Clean Underwear," was released in October 2012. The highly acclaimed book takes a look at advice women got from their mamas, and how (and whether) it helped them later in life.
MAGNOLIAS, SWEET TEA & EXHAUST, her third book, chronicles Carole's misadventures as she hits the road for a solid year, learning all that she could about NASCAR.
Her fourth book - "Blood in the Soil" is the first book about the investigation into the shooting of Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and his country attorney in Gwinnett County, Georgia, in 1978. But this book is not primarily about Larry Flynt, or even his shooter (the serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin), though both men are of course important characters in the story.
This true account is told alternately from the perspective of Detective J. Michael Cowart and by following Franklin’s life from childhood through his execution.
Visit caroletownsend.com for more information about Carole and her books, and to read her weekly column.
Carole has for years been involved in the Gwinnett community, particularly the Gwinnett Hospital System. A member of the hospital's Women's Advisory Council, she speaks at various civic events and is an advocate for women's and children's healthcare, especially neonatal care.
Carole has been a guest on CNN, FOX, and major network news stations for several years now. She is often a guest on radio shows, as well. Book signing tours, literary events and speaking engagements take her throughout the southern United States for much of every year. - See more at: http://www.caroletownsend.com
Townsend loved writing from her very early pre-teen years. After 20 years in the corporate world as a Marketing professional, she realized that her most effective contributions were always in writing. At the age of 40 (when most women reach a blinding clarity envied by the other half), she threw in the corporate towel, rolled up her sleeves, and started chiseling out a living as a freelance writer.
Now 11+ years into a career as a newspaper reporter and columnist, Carole still enjoys writing her column for the Gwinnett Citizen newspaper, (Not So) Common Sense. In it, she muses about the quirky business of life, things both major and minor. Readers appreciate her honest, no-nonsense humor and her love and understanding of all things Southern - the good, the bad and the downright ugly.
In October 2011, Townsend released her first book - "Southern Fried White Trash." The book has been well received for two reasons: The family humor it satirizes speaks to readers everywhere (not just the South) and Townsend's matter-of-fact sense of humor has readers laughing out loud from cover to cover.
Her second book, "Red Lipstick and Clean Underwear," was released in October 2012. The highly acclaimed book takes a look at advice women got from their mamas, and how (and whether) it helped them later in life.
MAGNOLIAS, SWEET TEA & EXHAUST, her third book, chronicles Carole's misadventures as she hits the road for a solid year, learning all that she could about NASCAR.
Her fourth book - "Blood in the Soil" is the first book about the investigation into the shooting of Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and his country attorney in Gwinnett County, Georgia, in 1978. But this book is not primarily about Larry Flynt, or even his shooter (the serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin), though both men are of course important characters in the story.
This true account is told alternately from the perspective of Detective J. Michael Cowart and by following Franklin’s life from childhood through his execution.
Visit caroletownsend.com for more information about Carole and her books, and to read her weekly column.
Carole has for years been involved in the Gwinnett community, particularly the Gwinnett Hospital System. A member of the hospital's Women's Advisory Council, she speaks at various civic events and is an advocate for women's and children's healthcare, especially neonatal care.
Carole has been a guest on CNN, FOX, and major network news stations for several years now. She is often a guest on radio shows, as well. Book signing tours, literary events and speaking engagements take her throughout the southern United States for much of every year. - See more at: http://www.caroletownsend.com
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 13, 2016
Move aside, Ann Rule.
White supremacist and serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin was born in abject poverty in the Deep South and died on death row. A child of abuse and neglect, he grew up angry and mean. He embraced Mein Kampf and the vengeful God of the Old Testament, and racial hatred became his sole focus in life. "He had a fierce need to rebel, and incite others to rebel, against an ever-growing, dark-skinned tyranny" that was destroying white America.
Impatient with the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party for their failures to act, he picked up a sniper rifle and began his three year "mission." Before he was apprehended, he killed at least twenty-two people in cold blood, and injured many more, including civil rights leader Vernon Jordan and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.
Blood in the Soil examines the history of Southern racism, from the Trail of Tears to the civil rights movement of the 20th century, providing a grim background to the biography of a home-grown racially-motivated serial killer. Free from lurid tabloid journalism, this new true-crime story climbs right over some classics into my top ten.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
White supremacist and serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin was born in abject poverty in the Deep South and died on death row. A child of abuse and neglect, he grew up angry and mean. He embraced Mein Kampf and the vengeful God of the Old Testament, and racial hatred became his sole focus in life. "He had a fierce need to rebel, and incite others to rebel, against an ever-growing, dark-skinned tyranny" that was destroying white America.
Impatient with the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party for their failures to act, he picked up a sniper rifle and began his three year "mission." Before he was apprehended, he killed at least twenty-two people in cold blood, and injured many more, including civil rights leader Vernon Jordan and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.
Blood in the Soil examines the history of Southern racism, from the Trail of Tears to the civil rights movement of the 20th century, providing a grim background to the biography of a home-grown racially-motivated serial killer. Free from lurid tabloid journalism, this new true-crime story climbs right over some classics into my top ten.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 28, 2025
Who could possibly be a bigger creep than Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine? The guy who tried to assassinate him, that’s who. Carol Townsend’s Blood In the Soil tells the tale of the man who attempted to murder the world’s most famous pornographer. It’s not a happy story.
Not surprisingly, Joseph Franklin had a miserable childhood. He grew up iimpoverished in Alabama. His parents were cruel and he had no friends. He dropped out of high school and turned to religion to find meaning and connection to a community. Up to a point, our basic capacity for sympathy kicks in and we can feel pity for him considering how terrible his upbringing was. But then we learn that he felt deeply hostile to the rise of integration, especially when it came to interracial dating. His search for community led him to join the Ku Klux Klan. You still might have an ounce of sympathy for him, thinking that because of his circumstances he was misguided and took a wrong turn in life. But it only gets worse from there. He regarded the Klan as little more than a fraternal drinking club and what he wanted was something on a more revolutionary scale. He decided to go on a terrorism and killing spree in order to spark a race war.
Franklin had a habit of frequenting newsstands and poring over their racks of pornographic magazines without paying for them, of course. He had a particular interest in Hustler but what he saw one day enraged him. Larry Flynt had published a pictorial of a naked African American man with a naked white woman, something that infuriated Franklin to the point of stealing a Ruger .44 semiautomatic rifle he would later use in an attempt on Larry Flynt’s life. Franklin claimed the pictorial layout was degrading to white women, but that is an odd opinion to have since he was highly abusive to the women in his life.
Flynt was in the town of Lawrenceville, Georgia on trial for obscenity. While he and his lawyer were walking from a restaurant to the courthouse, Franklin opened fire on them, nearly killing both. Flynt’s body was nearly ripped in half from the bullets and his spinal chord was almost severed. He managed to survive though and a good portion of this book gives details on the pain and suffering he went through after the attack. Larry Flynt’s biography is weird enough to merit its own book.
Franklin, meanwhile, went on a crime spree that included bombing synagogues, armed robberies, and shootings that mostly involved interracial couples. Overall, he is known to have killed 22 people. While his attempt on Flynt’s life takes up most of the oxygen in the room, it is important to remember the humanity of Franklin’s other victims, none of which were pornographers whose only crimes were having the wrong skin color and socializing with white people. They may be forgotten now, but remember they were the types of people who we have as friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family members.
The story shifts between Carol Townsend’s narrative and testimony from the detective Michael Cowart who solved the case of Larry Flynt’s attempted assassination. Cowart spent time meeting with Joseph Franklin in to get an official confession from him. A lot of what we know about Franklin’s personality comes from Cowart’s interactions with him. Their meetings took place in a maximum security prison after Franklin had been incarcerated for other crimes. He was never charged or brought to trial for the assassination attempt because he was already on death row for a synagogue bombing.
Townsend never takes a deep dive into the mind of Joseph Franklin. Her explanations are predictable. His rotten childhood made him the monster he became. He was a psychopath. He never got the opportunities he needed, so on and so forth. These are generic explanations you get from any true crime book. There are lots of people who are born into similar circumstances who don’t become terrorists and serial killers so it would be useful to know what set Franklin apart from those others. Even worse, she tries to blame his pathological hatred on the racist history of the South by saying the soil is saturated with racism because of slavery and the Native American genocide. It’s as if the racism just radiated upwards into the Southern white community by osmosis and animated them to commit hate crimes against ethnic minorities. The problem with this is that racism exists wherever humans exist. All nations have been built on a foundation of conquest, bloodshed, and genocide so there isn’t any excuse for the American Southeast to stand out in regard to every other piece of land on planet Earth. Besides, saying that Joseph Franklin is a conduit for racist violence that preceded his existence is just a kind of way to provide an easy explanation where there isn’t one.
There is an interesting pattern to notice though. Many of the people Franklin shot were in pairs. Most of them were either interracial couples or pairs of friends. One involved a pair of African American men who were jogging together. Franklin was a loner who failed to make social connections with others, so there may be an element of jealousy in his murders. Since synagogues are also places of community, it is possible that the bombings of the Jewish temples grew out of resentment since he failed to find the type of religious congregation that suited his needs. Loneliness, isolation, and living without love and affection are fundamentally existential problems for individual humans.
Townsend starts this book by waxing poetic as if she wants to reiterate Truman Capote’s finely crafted true crime novel In Cold Blood. But her language is cliché and more purple prose than poetry so thankfully she drops the literary pretentions a short ways into the story and finishes with straightforward writing. For the most part, this is written like standard true crime fare.
Blood In the Soil is a gritty and depressing read about a man who possibly was little more than pure evil. Even before being executed, Joseph Franklin was given a chance to redeem himself, but his apologies were little more than an act. And Larry Flynt spent the rest of his life living as a millionaire pornographer in a gold-plated wheelchair paralyzed from the waist down. We’re left with the impression that our planet is a Hell that we often make worse through our own actions.
Not surprisingly, Joseph Franklin had a miserable childhood. He grew up iimpoverished in Alabama. His parents were cruel and he had no friends. He dropped out of high school and turned to religion to find meaning and connection to a community. Up to a point, our basic capacity for sympathy kicks in and we can feel pity for him considering how terrible his upbringing was. But then we learn that he felt deeply hostile to the rise of integration, especially when it came to interracial dating. His search for community led him to join the Ku Klux Klan. You still might have an ounce of sympathy for him, thinking that because of his circumstances he was misguided and took a wrong turn in life. But it only gets worse from there. He regarded the Klan as little more than a fraternal drinking club and what he wanted was something on a more revolutionary scale. He decided to go on a terrorism and killing spree in order to spark a race war.
Franklin had a habit of frequenting newsstands and poring over their racks of pornographic magazines without paying for them, of course. He had a particular interest in Hustler but what he saw one day enraged him. Larry Flynt had published a pictorial of a naked African American man with a naked white woman, something that infuriated Franklin to the point of stealing a Ruger .44 semiautomatic rifle he would later use in an attempt on Larry Flynt’s life. Franklin claimed the pictorial layout was degrading to white women, but that is an odd opinion to have since he was highly abusive to the women in his life.
Flynt was in the town of Lawrenceville, Georgia on trial for obscenity. While he and his lawyer were walking from a restaurant to the courthouse, Franklin opened fire on them, nearly killing both. Flynt’s body was nearly ripped in half from the bullets and his spinal chord was almost severed. He managed to survive though and a good portion of this book gives details on the pain and suffering he went through after the attack. Larry Flynt’s biography is weird enough to merit its own book.
Franklin, meanwhile, went on a crime spree that included bombing synagogues, armed robberies, and shootings that mostly involved interracial couples. Overall, he is known to have killed 22 people. While his attempt on Flynt’s life takes up most of the oxygen in the room, it is important to remember the humanity of Franklin’s other victims, none of which were pornographers whose only crimes were having the wrong skin color and socializing with white people. They may be forgotten now, but remember they were the types of people who we have as friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family members.
The story shifts between Carol Townsend’s narrative and testimony from the detective Michael Cowart who solved the case of Larry Flynt’s attempted assassination. Cowart spent time meeting with Joseph Franklin in to get an official confession from him. A lot of what we know about Franklin’s personality comes from Cowart’s interactions with him. Their meetings took place in a maximum security prison after Franklin had been incarcerated for other crimes. He was never charged or brought to trial for the assassination attempt because he was already on death row for a synagogue bombing.
Townsend never takes a deep dive into the mind of Joseph Franklin. Her explanations are predictable. His rotten childhood made him the monster he became. He was a psychopath. He never got the opportunities he needed, so on and so forth. These are generic explanations you get from any true crime book. There are lots of people who are born into similar circumstances who don’t become terrorists and serial killers so it would be useful to know what set Franklin apart from those others. Even worse, she tries to blame his pathological hatred on the racist history of the South by saying the soil is saturated with racism because of slavery and the Native American genocide. It’s as if the racism just radiated upwards into the Southern white community by osmosis and animated them to commit hate crimes against ethnic minorities. The problem with this is that racism exists wherever humans exist. All nations have been built on a foundation of conquest, bloodshed, and genocide so there isn’t any excuse for the American Southeast to stand out in regard to every other piece of land on planet Earth. Besides, saying that Joseph Franklin is a conduit for racist violence that preceded his existence is just a kind of way to provide an easy explanation where there isn’t one.
There is an interesting pattern to notice though. Many of the people Franklin shot were in pairs. Most of them were either interracial couples or pairs of friends. One involved a pair of African American men who were jogging together. Franklin was a loner who failed to make social connections with others, so there may be an element of jealousy in his murders. Since synagogues are also places of community, it is possible that the bombings of the Jewish temples grew out of resentment since he failed to find the type of religious congregation that suited his needs. Loneliness, isolation, and living without love and affection are fundamentally existential problems for individual humans.
Townsend starts this book by waxing poetic as if she wants to reiterate Truman Capote’s finely crafted true crime novel In Cold Blood. But her language is cliché and more purple prose than poetry so thankfully she drops the literary pretentions a short ways into the story and finishes with straightforward writing. For the most part, this is written like standard true crime fare.
Blood In the Soil is a gritty and depressing read about a man who possibly was little more than pure evil. Even before being executed, Joseph Franklin was given a chance to redeem himself, but his apologies were little more than an act. And Larry Flynt spent the rest of his life living as a millionaire pornographer in a gold-plated wheelchair paralyzed from the waist down. We’re left with the impression that our planet is a Hell that we often make worse through our own actions.
September 5, 2016
This is a very well written book about the serial killer, Joseph Paul Franklin, who shot the publisher, Larry Flynt. The writer does a very good job of helping us understand the making of this purely evil person. It should serve as a cautionary tale in our world today when hate speech is prevalent, even among our country's leaders.
Ms Townsend discusses how the rhetoric against race can lead to senseless violence that tears lives apart. She takes on the task of trying to shed light on the factors that produced this serial killer rather than just documenting his abhorrent actions.
The story moves quickly and at times can be hard to put down. Much of it is told from the remembrance of the lead detective but she also tries to get into Franklin's head and speculate upon his thoughts as he perpetrated his crimes.
The author brings the scenes to life with many vivid details. At many times, the reader feels as if they are in the room with the characters. Truth is always stranger than fiction and this book helps prove it.
Ms Townsend discusses how the rhetoric against race can lead to senseless violence that tears lives apart. She takes on the task of trying to shed light on the factors that produced this serial killer rather than just documenting his abhorrent actions.
The story moves quickly and at times can be hard to put down. Much of it is told from the remembrance of the lead detective but she also tries to get into Franklin's head and speculate upon his thoughts as he perpetrated his crimes.
The author brings the scenes to life with many vivid details. At many times, the reader feels as if they are in the room with the characters. Truth is always stranger than fiction and this book helps prove it.
July 13, 2023
This book covers the shooting of Larry Flynt, an American magazine publisher. He mostly published pornographic magazines, including Hustler. Flynt and his lawyer were ambushed on the street, with Flynt becoming paralyzed and his lawyer getting severely injured. The culprit was Joseph Paul Franklin, a neo-Nazi who was disgusted by an inter-racial photo shoot in Hustler magazine. Franklin had killed many other people, Black and Jewish, due to his disgusting racist beliefs. While this book does discuss this case, it also discusses life in areas where these hate groups flourish. There are a lot of common factors in how people find themselves indoctrinated into this gross mentality. Unfortunately for us living in the South, we know many people like this. A lot of them are leaders in our communities, which makes it even worse. I can understand more and more why there is such a negative impression of the Southern states and the United States in general, which is a huge digression from the nationalistic way that I was raised.
I learned that Larry Flint went around in a gold plated wheelchair, which I found to be extremely ridiculous. I guess if you have the money, you may as well spend it how you want. Neo-Nazism and other forms of White Supremacy are things that have been a constant in the United States for some time. Recently, these issues have really come back into the forefront of consciousness, especially since 2016. People are allowed to get away with hateful actions and ideologies with little to no consequences, and are applauded for it by a large group of people. This is a very scary time to be living in the United States, and this book from the past is just a look into what our present is like. If you are interested in White Supremacy, this might be a good book for you to read. It is currently available on Audible Plus if you have that.
I learned that Larry Flint went around in a gold plated wheelchair, which I found to be extremely ridiculous. I guess if you have the money, you may as well spend it how you want. Neo-Nazism and other forms of White Supremacy are things that have been a constant in the United States for some time. Recently, these issues have really come back into the forefront of consciousness, especially since 2016. People are allowed to get away with hateful actions and ideologies with little to no consequences, and are applauded for it by a large group of people. This is a very scary time to be living in the United States, and this book from the past is just a look into what our present is like. If you are interested in White Supremacy, this might be a good book for you to read. It is currently available on Audible Plus if you have that.
August 10, 2019
Back in 1978, the adult magazine publisher Larry Flynt was shot and paralyzed. Blood in the Soil is a riveting account of the shooter, Joseph Paul Franklin. The psychopath was raised in Mobile, Alabama and aligned with the American Nazi Party of the 1970’s who preached hatred against n****** and Jews who were destroying the country. Ironically, Flynt was neither black nor Jewish. He had grown up poor in the mountains of Kentucky. After reading “Mein Kampf” in high school, Franklin joined the KKK. The Christmas 1975 edition of Flynt’s Hustler magazine featured a series of explicit photographs of a black man and a white woman. Flynt’s obscenity trial in Georgia provided the opportunity for Franklin’s rage. Gwinnett County was once Cherokee land until the 1800’s when they were forced out and on to Oklahoma in the infamous Trail of Tears march. Cotton became king and tens of thousands of slaves worked the fields from dusk to dawn. Franklin’s sense of white entitlement stemmed from the regions sad and troubled history. Flynt was shot on a sidewalk by a .44 rifle from a building just blocks from the county courthouse. Franlkin drove away without being seen. Flynt nearly died from a loss of blood and was paralyzed by the .44 slug near his spine and the subsequent intense pain led to a long drug habit. Detective Mike Cowart was contacted by Franklin in 1983 in order to make a deal to be transferred from the Marion, Illinois prison where he had been stabbed by several black inmates. The killer admitted to shooting a boy as he left his bar mitzvah in St. Louis and the gunning down of an interracial couple in Tennessee. The killing spree spanned from 1977 to 1982. He was finally arrested in Kentucky with a stolen car. He confessed to 22 killings, 16 bank robberies and the bombings of several synagogues. After receiving six life sentences, Franklin was given a death sentence for the murder of the boy in St. Louis. Like an old and tired dog, J.P. Franklin was put to sleep was a nice dose of pentobarbital on November 20, 2013. Blood in the Soil is one hell of a good read.
April 15, 2016
A good read if a bit unorthodoxly written for a true crime. This is the story of Joseph Paul Franklin, the man best known for shooting pornography king Larry Flynt, but he was a genuine serial killer by the time he added Flynt's shooting to his roster. The book is about Franklin but Flynt's shooting does take up a chapter and beyond that point can't help but become a major part of Franklin's life story. This was a totally fresh introduction to a serial killer for me as I'd not seen the movie made about Flynt some years ago. Franklin was a racially motivated killer, a brutally abused child who tried to find somewhere to belong. He first tried Christianity but could only settle on the Old Testament God, his hatred for Jews conflicted with that moving him on to neo-Nazi groups, the KKK, and the like but found them all talk and no action. He then found his mentor and mission when he read Mein Kampf and decided to eradicate all mixed-race couples, blacks, and Jews. He didn't mind pornography per se, but Flynt hit his list when he started featuring mixed-race couples in his "filthy" magazine.
The author interviewed lead Detective Michael Cowart extensively and with his permission, writes this book from his point of view, alternating with chapters written in the all-knowing perspective about Franklin, often, the author admits, putting thoughts into his head, which she feels justified doing from her extensive research of his letters and interviews. This, of course, has to be taken with a grain of salt, but it is compelling and makes for interesting reading. Frankin admits to killing 22 blacks and jews and it was ultimately the conviction for killing a Jewish man in a death penalty state which saw him put on death row and legally murdered by the state by lethal injection in 2013. Worth a read, especially as an introduction to the case, if you're unfamiliar with Joseph Paul Franklin as I was.
The author interviewed lead Detective Michael Cowart extensively and with his permission, writes this book from his point of view, alternating with chapters written in the all-knowing perspective about Franklin, often, the author admits, putting thoughts into his head, which she feels justified doing from her extensive research of his letters and interviews. This, of course, has to be taken with a grain of salt, but it is compelling and makes for interesting reading. Frankin admits to killing 22 blacks and jews and it was ultimately the conviction for killing a Jewish man in a death penalty state which saw him put on death row and legally murdered by the state by lethal injection in 2013. Worth a read, especially as an introduction to the case, if you're unfamiliar with Joseph Paul Franklin as I was.
July 17, 2019
"Small town secrets and shame."
I live in Gwinnett county, Georgia so I figured I should probably read this book. Somehow I had no idea that Larry Flynt was shot in Gwinnett county at the old courthouse building I just walked by last night....it's mind blowing to even think. But somewhere between the writing style and being in the head of the shooter made this not an enjoyable read.
And I have to be honest - not being a native - I struggle to see a lot of differences from Georgia in the 70's and now. The KKK is still active here and rally at Stone Mountain (also in Gwinnett County) at least once a year - 3 years ago, it bumped my oldest child's prom from Stone Mtn for fear of violence. It's just mind blowing that some people in the south still refer to the civil war as the War of Northern Aggression. It's disheartening and this book didn't add anything against the racism and horrible face the south can sometimes put forth.
I live in Gwinnett county, Georgia so I figured I should probably read this book. Somehow I had no idea that Larry Flynt was shot in Gwinnett county at the old courthouse building I just walked by last night....it's mind blowing to even think. But somewhere between the writing style and being in the head of the shooter made this not an enjoyable read.
And I have to be honest - not being a native - I struggle to see a lot of differences from Georgia in the 70's and now. The KKK is still active here and rally at Stone Mountain (also in Gwinnett County) at least once a year - 3 years ago, it bumped my oldest child's prom from Stone Mtn for fear of violence. It's just mind blowing that some people in the south still refer to the civil war as the War of Northern Aggression. It's disheartening and this book didn't add anything against the racism and horrible face the south can sometimes put forth.
November 12, 2018
Full d disclosure: I'm the author of this book. However, I would ld like to add that this true crime story earned me the 2017 GA Author of the Year - FINALIST designation in mystery/suspense. More importantly, the subject matter has kept this book in the news nearly 3 years since its April 2-016 publication. I say this not to boast, but to demonstrate the power of the message and the depth of what ails the United States as a nation. Yes, this is the riveting story of a twisted man who shot Larry Flynt in a small GA town in 1978, but the story is as relevant today as it was then, because the reason for the shooting is just as relevant. I hope you'll give this book a read, as the message is a powerful one.
My Best, and Happy Reading!
Carole Townsend
My Best, and Happy Reading!
Carole Townsend
December 13, 2017
Technically I didn’t finish this. I got within about 30 pages of the end and just couldn’t stand it any more. The writer was so repetitious — often within a page of each — that I couldn’t bear it any longer. Chapters being told in the 1st person by someone other than the author was a weird literary style.
October 17, 2016
Shallow overview of the man who confessed to the shooting of Larry Flynt.
August 11, 2022
2.5 stars. I didn’t love the way this book was written. The author seems to really love their own words, though, and all you get here is a lot of words and not much substance. And what substance there might be feels very much like it was inspired by every crime movie I’ve ever seen. I would not recommend this book, but I will say this: I saw a review on Audible that claimed the author was too liberal, as well as some other benign comments to that effect. I don’t define myself by my political affiliation, and I don’t really care what other people feel in that regard, but I am afraid that reader thinks that basic human rights are a ‘liberal’ thing. The only comments that even remotely fit what I was expecting were to the effect that interracial couples don’t deserve to be murdered, that slavery existed, and that freedom of speech means everyone’s speech, not just the speech we agree with (and that last comment is not the author’s sentiment, but a belief held by one of the killer’s victims).
October 2, 2018
Good book about a not well known serial killer
I knew that Larry Flynt had been shot and paralyzed, but that's all I knew. I had never heard of Joseph Paul Franklin, despite the fact he murdered 20+ people and injured many more. The author puts the killings and shootings and bombings in context: Franklin's rotten childhood, Southern racial prejudice, poverty, the changing culture.
It's an informative read that does a good job covering Franklin's life and execution. The one thing I wasn't crazy about is how the author repeats information from one chapter to the next. But overall, well worth a read.
I knew that Larry Flynt had been shot and paralyzed, but that's all I knew. I had never heard of Joseph Paul Franklin, despite the fact he murdered 20+ people and injured many more. The author puts the killings and shootings and bombings in context: Franklin's rotten childhood, Southern racial prejudice, poverty, the changing culture.
It's an informative read that does a good job covering Franklin's life and execution. The one thing I wasn't crazy about is how the author repeats information from one chapter to the next. But overall, well worth a read.
February 9, 2025
True crime has always been an interest of mine. I try to use the words to get inside the mind of the suspect. Why? My biggest question.
Very well written and definitely grabs you at the beginning. Sadly I don't see where our world has changed all that much where racism is concerned. I will never understand why people can despise someone so much based solely on the color of their skin. You are truly the ones losing out because you are missing the opportunity to know some very beautiful people.
Very well written and definitely grabs you at the beginning. Sadly I don't see where our world has changed all that much where racism is concerned. I will never understand why people can despise someone so much based solely on the color of their skin. You are truly the ones losing out because you are missing the opportunity to know some very beautiful people.
May 31, 2021
My preference for non-fiction books is that they be handled as good historians do. That is, that words are not put in anyone’s thoughts or mouth. Hence the four stars.
That said, the book is written in a way that makes the reader want to keep reading. Author Carole Townsend sure knows how to write well. Moreover, narrator Allan Robertson did a great job!
This book is timely. If only humankind would learn not to hate.
That said, the book is written in a way that makes the reader want to keep reading. Author Carole Townsend sure knows how to write well. Moreover, narrator Allan Robertson did a great job!
This book is timely. If only humankind would learn not to hate.
May 7, 2025
3.5 - i really liked the way this story was told. It was written like a novel so it was easy to read. I would have preferred more about the crimes committed instead of details of how he thought. Also, the last few chapters were a bit hard to get behind: too many pages of what Joe was thinking at the time of execution. I'd prefer a nonfiction book stick with what was said by the poison, actual witnesses or evidence instead of conjecture.
April 13, 2023
True evil is openly displayed in this book. Cutting through flesh and digging into one’s heart full of racism and murder. It’s hard to know who to blame, the abusive parents, Hitler, mental illness, the Old Testament views of God? I didn’t give this book a higher review for the sole purpose of its painful repetitiveness like most true crime.
October 4, 2018
True Crime
This is a good book, though rather short. Joe Franklin was a well known killer during this time, though I had never read a book about him before. The author made a point of trying to explain why he was the way he was. It is a scary book
This is a good book, though rather short. Joe Franklin was a well known killer during this time, though I had never read a book about him before. The author made a point of trying to explain why he was the way he was. It is a scary book
January 19, 2022
The story itself was pretty interesting, and I understand that he was a POS racist, but the overuse of the racial slurs were unnecessary. These were not direct quotes, so using them repeatedly to make a point was just lazy writing, in my opinion.
December 16, 2023
"Blood in the Soil" by Carole Townsend is a riveting exploration of a true crime story that unfolds against the backdrop of racism, sex, and murder in the South. Townsend's impeccable storytelling and deep research skillfully bring this harrowing tale to life, shedding light on the complexities of the human experience. The narrative is both compelling and thought-provoking, offering readers a nuanced understanding of the socio-cultural dynamics at play. Townsend's ability to balance sensitivity with an unflinching portrayal of the events showcases her mastery as a storyteller. This book is an absolute gem for those who appreciate true crime narratives enriched with historical and cultural context.
April 16, 2021
An interesting and scary story. Well written!
July 6, 2022
I really enjoyed this read. I found it well written and couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard about this monster before now. One of the better true crime books I’ve read.
March 4, 2024
Repetitive and oddly written…
April 13, 2016
This is the story of Joseph Paul Franklin, a serial murderer who went on a 3 year killing spree from 1977 to 1980. The book tells the story of his life, how he came to be a murderer, his crimes, and how he was caught. Amongst his crimes was the shooting of Larry Flynt, the much maligned publisher of Hustler magazine. The shooting left Flynt alive but paralyzed from the waist down and in constant pain.
I was initially drawn to this book because of the Larry Flynt angle. In the conservative community I was raised in Flynt was considered to be the height of evil. What I discovered in this book is that evil is much uglier than just publishing pornography. Joseph Paul Franklin had a hatred for Jews and black people that ran as deep as the river Styx. Every murder he committed was motivated by this hatred. He say himself as being on a mission from God to take revenge.
The story is told alternately from the perspective of Joseph Franklin and that of Detective Michael Cowart, the lead investigator of the Larry Flynt shooting. I found the author’s telling to be compelling and well-researched. I think any fan of true crime would enjoy “Blood in the Soil”.
I was initially drawn to this book because of the Larry Flynt angle. In the conservative community I was raised in Flynt was considered to be the height of evil. What I discovered in this book is that evil is much uglier than just publishing pornography. Joseph Paul Franklin had a hatred for Jews and black people that ran as deep as the river Styx. Every murder he committed was motivated by this hatred. He say himself as being on a mission from God to take revenge.
The story is told alternately from the perspective of Joseph Franklin and that of Detective Michael Cowart, the lead investigator of the Larry Flynt shooting. I found the author’s telling to be compelling and well-researched. I think any fan of true crime would enjoy “Blood in the Soil”.
December 30, 2016
I would give this poorly written book zero stars if I could :/
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