Trial Magazine
Books
Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing That Changed the Course of Civil Rights
July 2019Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing That Changed the Course of Civil Rights
Doug Jones
All Points Books
384 pp.; $29.99
In this biographical tale, U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-Ala.) recounts the harrowing 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that took the lives of four young girls in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963. Jones describes his experience, years later, as a U.S. attorney prosecuting the last living bombers, two former Ku Klux Klan members. He also explores the bombing’s lasting impacts on the girls’ families and places the event within the historical context of the civil rights movement. Jones explains how trying these cases ultimately had a transformative effect on his life and career as a lawyer, culminating in his decision to run for governor of Alabama and his astonishing victory in that race.
