This is a very well written look at an important, complicated, and largely overlooked period in modern American history.

I started out enjoying this book at the beginning , but as the author tried to weave the other elements that where tied in someway to the story I actually lost interest. Just tell the story without adding your political leanings.

I thought The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NAACP was a pretty good read. Five stars.

Nonfiction about the murder of a ten year old girl in 1910 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I mostly picked this up because I spend a week or two most summers in Asbury Park (I even went on a ghost tour once that I'm pretty sure recounted this murder, though unsurprisingly the ghost tour version was so distorted that I'm not entirely sure it was the same case), and reading about the founding and early version of the town I know so well was probably my favorite part of the book. The founder of the town was an obsessive religious dude of the anti-alcohol, anti-sex sort, which is sort of ironic now that the town which has become a gay party scene.

However, the main theme of the book isn't so much the murder as the investigation afterwards. It was led by Ray Schindler, a private detective who would later become significant in the invention of the lie detector. Here, he's working on his very first murder case, mostly relying on a technique nicknamed 'the rope': to trick a suspect into confessing by pretending to be a friend or fellow criminal. I'm pretty sure it would be considered illegal today, if perhaps not at the time, but it does make for entertaining reading, as various detectives pretend to be the main suspect's new friend, a scary gangster, a willing lawyer, and a cellmate.

The other half of the book consists of a biography of Ida B Wells focused on her anti-lynching work, which has only the most tenuous of connections to the murder plot, but is well-written enough to stand as its own thing. (The theoretical link is that Wells was sort of involved in the founding of the NAACP, and one of the NAACP's early cases involved providing defense lawyers for a Black suspect in Asbury Park.) If you've read a biography of Wells before, you probably won't be interested in this mini version, but if you haven't, she's absolutely a fascinating enough historical figure to make her half of the book engaging.

Overall, <i>The Rope</i> isn't a good enough book to recommend to people who aren't already fans of historical true crime, but if you're into that genre, it's worth picking up.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4121686940

The Rope by Alex Tresniowski was a powerful read. The story weaves together three cases, breaking down the history of Asbury Park. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in civil rights. and reading about the etymology of the NAACP.

• mini review •
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The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NASCP By: Alex Tresiowksi
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
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There was just a little too much going on in this story. There were many moving parts that were connected in sense but overwhelming at times. I enjoyed the historical aspects of Ida B Wells and her connection to lynching but it was separate from the murder itself.
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The murder of the young girl was tragic. Finding out the killer was a very long process and took a majority of the book. The details of the murder are graphic and shocking. Many triggers are listed below:
Murder, rape, racism police brutality, severe assaults and explicit, lynching
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Thanks @netgalley for my ARC
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What a ride ... this book reads like fiction, but covers every base within the true crime genre. There's the street-wise private detective who's inspired by Sherlock Holmes, the serial pedophile, the justice-obsessed journalist and a host of side characters suitable for any mystery novel.

But these people were real, and, particularly in the case of Ida B. Wells, iconic.

The Rope, which despite the topic isn't about a lynching, takes place in Ashbury Park N.J. halfway between the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the formal beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in 1954.

It opens with the brutal murder of a little girl and the black man who is quickly jailed as it's prim suspect. To linger on the details is to run the risk of giving away too much.

Suffice it to say that The Rope covers the investigation that sits at the historic intersection of sweeping national forces—religious extremism, class struggle, the infancy of criminal forensics, and America’s Jim Crow racial violence.

This is the perfect true crime book.

The Rope by Alex Tresniowski tells in effect two-three stories. One story is the gruesome murder of a schoolgirl in Atlantic City New Jersey in the 1900s. Attention very quickly turns to an African-American in the area. Indeed for many he becomes the sole focus of investigation. This is where the second story begins as Tesniowski takes the reader through the rather unfortunate history of lynching of African Americans throughout the United States which connects to Ida B. Wells efforts to create a more equitable justice system for African Americans that eventually gives rise to the NAACP.

Multiple stories including two murder investigations can get quite messy for the reader given authors tendencies to jump around to the different stories either within the same chapter or chapter by chapter because it feels like every time you get into the story the writer lifts you out of it. Tresniowski is able to avoid this trap and keep the reader engaged in all of the stories because the key figures or aspects of the stories are so interesting.

What happens when a radical crusader of the day butts up against a justice system resistant to change? Further, what happens when what passes for criminal investigation in the 1900’s is confronted with evidence that would seemingly be right at home in an episode of Law & Order, CSI, and Criminal Minds? Tresniowkski answers all these questions and more in The Rope.

In Asbury Park, New Jersey 10 year old Marie Smith was murdered and sexually assaulted by a pedophile in November 1910. Thomas Williams, a 40 year old black man, was arrested for the crime because he knew Marie and didn’t have an alibi. Not everyone believed in his guilt and a private detective was brought in from New York to investigate further. The detective, Raymond Schindler, suspected Frank Heidemann of the crime and arranged an elaborate scheme to get Heidemann to confess. Heidemann did confess, Williams was released and Heidemann was convicted and executed in May 1911.

That is really all there is to this true crime story. It’s not enough material for a book so the author has padded it out with a biography of Schindler and a history of Asbury Park. However, most of the padding comes from the story of civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, who campaigned against lynching and was instrumental in the creation of the NAACP. The book contains a good deal of her biography, which was interesting but had absolutely nothing to do with the crime. Williams wasn’t lynched, Wells may never have even heard of him and NAACP lawyers made one very brief appearance in court on behalf of Williams.

There are no footnotes to this book, which I would have expected to see in a history book. It probably shouldn’t even have been a book. The crime story should have been a magazine article and I am sure there are other, more detailed biographies of Wells. This was a disappointing attempt to tie a tawdry crime into the issue of lynching, and I am surprised the publisher let the author get away with that.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Tresniowski brings three stories together in this hard-to-put-down thriller. First, he presents the story of the creation and development of Asbury Park and the murder of ten-year-old Marie Smith. Then we are given the dramatic saga of activist Ida Wells, and, finally, Ray Schindler, pioneer detective who uses Poe and Holmes as references, enters the scene. The stories converge, and, in culmination, we are given the emergence of the NAACP. This novel is not to miss: riveting, timely, and inspiring.!

I got this book free from NetGalley and overall I liked it. I really liked the background on Ida B. Wells and her anti-lynching work, and I like a true crime story that has a sneaky big impact on history. My only complaint is that it was a little shallow. It talks about a lot of things, and all of them are interesting but it didn't really tackle any of them in a really meaningful way. For example, it says right in the subtitle that it's about the beginnings of the NAACP and that's true, but the NAACP is hardly mentioned and he has to explain in the last chapter why Ida B. Wells and this murder were key in the beginnings of the NAACP, which felt a little sloppy because for being a key element it should have been way more obvious.

I absolutely loved this book and was not familiar with Marie Smith's case. I love that there was a little bit of everything ranging from the history of Asbury Park itself to the murder, to the life of Ida. B. Wells. The reason I'm giving this a 4 versus 5 stars is it felt like the Wells story didn't tie as neatly as the other stories. It seemed totally separate story that was interesting and well-written, but the connection wasn't as obvious as the other stories.

I loved this book. I had not heard of Ida B Wells and was fascinated with her story. HOwever, the main story is the killing of Marie Smith. This book is history in the making. How black men were constantly accused of crimes that they didn't commit. The detectives who were hired to help with the investigation, the NAACP, and the actual murderer.
The author does a great job detailing why we should care about his forgotten case. I loved the interplay between Ida B Wells and the investigation.
To me, this book was fast paced and I couldn't put it down. It was richly detailed and well written. Two big thumbs up.

The author wrote about the tragic murder of 10 year old Marie Smith in 1910 and how her murder and the events surrounding the coverup led to the creation of the NAACP. Unfortunately, many of us have never heard of this tragic event. I feel that it is an important part of history, as the NAACP does important work. This was not the typical nonfiction read, as the author wrote in a style used for thrillers, which kept me engaged.

There's just a little bit too much going on for this book to be as good as it should be. I loved the parts about lynching and Ida B. Wells, but it really didn't have much to do with the murder of the title. The murder is a sad, sordid story that takes up way too much of the book, in my opinion. Almost everyone will have some kind of disappointment because the two narratives don't really fit together. Interesting, though flawed.

This is an extraordinary book thanks to its historical relevance and the research and compelling storytelling of the author. I will absolutely be watching for more work by Mr. Tresniowski.
The layout is unusual in that it tells the stories of both Ida B. Wells, considered a founder of the NAACP, and the murder case of Tom Williams. The principals never met each other, and Wells was born many years before the people involved in Williams' case. But they are entwined by the atrocity of lynching in the United States. The lynching of a friend propelled Wells to apply her journalistic gifts and her powerful personality to shining the light of justice and morality on this issue. The money to defend Tom Williams came from the legal fund of the NAACP so there is an overlap there. The rest of the book is the story of Williams' arrest (and near lynching) for the brutal sexual assault and murder of Marie Smith, a ten year old girl living in Asbury Park in 1910. Tom's life is conveyed vividly as is the devastation of the Smith family. A private detective, Ray Schindler, is hired by the city of Asbury Park to ascertain whether Williams was truly the killer, and it takes over four months of grinding labor and creative sleuthing to exonerate Tom Williams. Just as Ida Wells' story is told as vividly as a novel, so too is the account of the extraordinary accomplishment of Schindler and his committed team. It truly is a page-turner. This marvelous book has emotional depth and pulls the reader into the lives of Wells and Schindler and those who lived through these cruel events.
A little quibble: Simon and Schuster is such a prominent and respected publisher, I was surprised to see the use of "snuck" rather than "sneaked" many times (there is a lot of sneaking in Schindler's part of the story). People say "shrunk" rather than "shrank", and "spit" instead of "spat" but I think this error in standard usage slipped past a copy editor. It's always good to have a copy of the AP Stylebook nearby.

This is a well-written narrative about a true crime, a rising detective, a historical figure, and creation and rise of the NAACP. It is apparent much research went into writing this as the history comes alive through both dialogue and narrative told in an interesting and engrossing manner. This is not a gruesome true crime story or even a dry historical account, but an enjoyable book with important historical context and true facts.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own provided voluntarily.

With everything going on in the world, especially in the United States, this book is remarkable. The book is laid out incredibly well. The book is in layman's terms and reads a lot more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. I can't recommend this book enough.

I truly had difficulty putting this book down. As it toggled back and forth between the two both mysterious and informative historical narratives, I was eager to pick up where it left off and alway reluctant to stop reading. The stories told, which formed the foundation of the NAACP, center around the all too common subject of the era, lynching. Please be mindful when you read this book that the subject matter is handled frankly and the details of the cases, including the abuse and murder of a young child are graphic and you should be prepared.

I really love the way the author takes one specific case, and uses this case as the starting and ending point for a history of the NAACP, Ida B. Wells, Lynching & the emergence of the private detective.

The narrative begins with the murder of ten-year-old Marie Smith, and the railroading of an innocent black man for this heinous crime. It then interweaves complex and enraging historical narratives and facts into the timeline of the case. As it progresses another suspect emerges and the reader begins to wonder if justice will be done, or if prejudice will get in the way.