Tell It True: A Novel

by John Pruitt

An African American serviceman is gunned down on a rural Georgia road in July 1964. This shocking murder ensnares a wide range of characters including the journalists who cover it, the lawmen who must solve it, the civil rights leaders who capitalize upon it, the politicians who exploit it, and the Atlanta magnate who fears its impact on the New South image he desperately wants to protect. TV news cameraman Gil Matthews and AP reporter Mindy Williams team up to follow the twists and turns of the murder investigation as rural, state, and federal lawmen clash, a civil rights leader fends off a black power challenger, and voters take sides in a governor's race pitting virulent racist Roscoe Pike against moderate underdog Harrison Parker. Focusing on the challenges faced by journalists as they covered a societal revolution and brought the dramatic and sometimes violent scenes to TV screens around the world, TELL IT TRUE takes us to a time when the future of the South hung in the balance.

389 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 4, 2022

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is wonderful in its insight to 1964 Georgia. The terrible truth of the fictional crime is it really happened, though names and places are changed here. John Pruitt, who I observed with respect all my life as a professional news anchor, draws on his experience as a news cameraman to portray events. Tell it True is a great novel, worth discussing and sharing. I'm eager to read what Pruitt writes next! I'm curious about another era, his take on the 1970s and beyond, Jimmy Carter, Atlanta and environs.
Maybe a memoir, sir?
Thanks to Mercer University Press for publishing and Cathedral Thrift Store for a nice second-hand copy of this well-done book.

[Steve Wilkerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although not a Georgia native, I’ve lived in Georgia for most of the past sixty years. I was a student at Georgia State College (later Georgia State University) in downtown Atlanta in 1964. According to Pruitt’s brief biography, 1964 was his first year as a reporter for WSB television in Atlanta. He rose to become their news anchor, a respected and trusted member of the community. Tell it True is a fictional account of the racial and political upheavals Georgia faced in the early 1960s. The fictional character, the man behind the scenes, Devereaux Inman (Inman Park, named for Samuel Inman, was Atlanta’s first planned suburb) has a vision of what Atlanta might become and pulls strings and puts money into achieving that vision. The principal character is Gil Matthews, Pruitt’s alter ego as a television photo journalist covering the trial, the campaigns, and the ideological conflicts of the period.

Pruitt chose 1964 because, as he mentions in his “Acknowledgments,” it was the year Lemuel Penn, a black “. . . decorated veteran of World War II and a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve” was murdered in a north Georgia county, nine days after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (from Wikipedia). The novel tells two stories. The first is the murder of fictional Jarvis Pendry, a black man modeled on Lemuel Penn, and the trial of the Ku Klux Klan members who murdered him. They wer acquitted in the fictional account and in the actual trial. Federal charges of violating Penn’s civil rights based upon the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were filed and the men were convicted. The second is a fictional primary for governor between a segregationist and a more moderate candidate six years before Jimmy Carter was elected governor of Georgia and ten years before Maynard Jackson was elected the first black mayor of Atlanta. The character Harrison Parker may have been modeled on Ivan Allen, mayor of Atlanta from 1962 to 1970, during whose administration the phrase “a city too busy to hate” was coined.

Each of the differing factions depicted in the novel use the phrase “tell it true” because Pruitt wants to remind the reader of how truth varies greatly depending on one’s perspective. Pruitt tries to depict accurately the racial and political tensions of Georgia, tensions which still exist, although Atlanta has become a major city in accord with Inman’s fictional vision for it, a city which tries to live up to its unofficial motto of “a city too busy to hate.

It's a reasonably well told story, more a paean to a city than a story about the racial and political tensions of a state. The rednecks and the racial bigotry still exist and the contrast between the urban areas and the rural areas is still as great as Pruitt depicts them in 1964. The urban and suburban populations are much greater than they were in 1964 and years after Nixon’s “southern strategy” turned the Dixiecrats into Republicans, Georgia may be nearing a tipping point which will turn the state blue. Pruitt's ending is optimistic; perhaps we had that optimism in 1964, but in 2022, too many issues reamin unresolved.

[Megan Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. The story for me started a little slow and was covering multiple characters and giving different angles and approaches of how the Civil Rights movement was viewed/ the different ways groups of people decided to approach it. One thing really interesting to me was how influential the media was for this movement and being able to read a story with a reporter as a main character. I loved being able to see how the media responded to different events and how a true reporter will cover the good the bad and the ugly to get a story. The book picked up for me and I was hooked. I became attached to the characters and could really understand their morals and actions. I would recommend this book to someone who moved to Atlanta it highlights the city’s history, culture and people and how Atlanta came to be today. It’s interesting to me that we can still see similarities in the Civil Rights movement from then to now. Change has come and is still coming- we still have a long way to go!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Retired Atlanta anchorman John Pruitt ventures into the world of historical fiction with this civil-rights-movement-oriented novel inspired by the North Georgia murder of Army reservist Lemuel Penn in 1964 --the same year Pruitt began his television career in Atlanta. Pruitt connects several subplots to the murder -- the trial of the Klansmen who committed the murder, a Democratic primary race for the office of governor, and the beginnings of a more militant Civil Rights movement rising on Black college campuses (and clashing with more moderate forces for change in the Black community. Pruitt's history is accurate; he does "tell it true" -- but his writing and his characters are a little wooden. He has the advantage of writing about events he covered when they originally happened, and the hindsight to put them in context. I'd almost have preferred him to have produced a volume of nonfiction, given the way he told the story.

[Teague · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would be good for a teen or someone who wants to get a feeling of how these times were, but doesn't know the history. It reads like an after school special on TV or parsing real stories through a Netflix AI to come up with a show. The feeling is there, but living in Atlanta, you know the real stories he rearranged, which is disappointing because the real stories are far more interesting and didn't need fictionalization. I did found his antecdotes on how the media worked interesting and enjoyed the context he was trying to convey, but I think I'll get far more enjoyment out of the true story of this murder.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is at least as good as many I've read on the best seller list - better than most. As a Georgian, I lived through the racially tense period described by the book, and I can vouch for Pruitt's accuracy and fairness in describing the contradictory points of view of the time. In addition, this is a crime story, a courtroom thriller, a political drama, and a page turner. I recommend it highly.

[Anne Fayssoux · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Pruitt was an Atlanta news broadcaster for many years. His book is an interesting read as you wonder how much of it was inspired by news events he covered in Georgia. His book is set in a sad era of Georgia history when much of the State was against civil rights. There is a terrible murder that brings racial tensions to the surface. I recommend reading this book as it foreshadows many of the feeling in our country today.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was written by a retired veteran newsman from Atlanta. Back in the 60's, a black serviceman was murdered as he passed through Georgia on his way home from serving in the reserve. The novel is a similar story written from the point of view of the news people following the story. I read the print novel, not the Kindle, after hearing the author speak at the University of Georgia.

[Lynn Wailes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I attended a local lecture with the author a very famous tv anchor from the Atlanta area. This is his debut novel and he chose to write about a murder that occurred in Ga in 1964. While based on actual events John chose to tell this story in a fictionalized account. I found it very engaging and filled with colorful characters. Definitely worth a read

[Brennan Donnellan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by my friend, but I would rate this just as highly if I didn't know John. This is masterful storytelling, with a brisk pace and a compelling story that unfolds chapter by chapter. The setting of the Jim Crow south during the 1960's, and the author's semi-autobiographical knowledge of the news business in Atlanta as a young reporter during the time make for an exciting read.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is based in Georgia and by a long time well respected news anchor in Atlanta. I was a bit trepidatious with this being his first writing foray, but he did a great job. It reminded me of a John Grisham book. Keep writing!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, entertaining read based on the true murder of a black serviceman in rural Georgia. Pruitt successfully juggles a lot of balls in this tale told from multiple perspectives. You’re also struck by how little has changed in this damned state.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading Tell It True. Beautifully written and structured. Colorful characters. Insightful observations on race in the South. Suspenseful plot turns. Highly recommend.

[Sue Golubic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good first time novel by Atlanta TV newsman John Pruitt about race relations in Atlanta in 1964. It's told from a TV newsman's view and covers a murder, a governor's race and a changing Atlanta.

[Lizbeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being relatively new to the Southeastern part of the US, I found Tell It True to be a valuable resource for understanding the history and culture of the city I now live in. This book uses a narrative style of changing the viewpoint character for each chapter, to provide a broad perspective on the Civil Rights movement. In this way, the history becomes accessible rather than remote, as a chronological treatise would be. Highly recommended, especially during Black History month. Consider this selection for your book club.