False beliefs are always more powerful than truth.

In the South, questioning bad beliefs can have dire consequences.

Betsy McCall pays a price for challenging local beliefs at a place where rebel flags and confederate statues are revered. She wants her newspaper colleague to tell the truth about her aunt's murder, but he's drowning his demons in alcohol. As she struggles to get him sober, he reveals the tactics, lies, and manipulation that plagued a southern community for decades and infected the beliefs of generations to preserve white supremacy. This story intertwines factual events stretching from the Civil War to the Great Depression. It provides background for how our democracy is at risk today because America is still plagued by bad beliefs.

"I highly recommend this book for any and all who have found themselves confounded IN the American South...Pate untwists so many tightly knotted assumptions and mistaken beliefs...through 160 years of history, he takes you inside the heads and hearts...that still hold us back. This is a great read!" - Amazon (Starred Review)

"...what happens when people cling to misguided beliefs...Its treatments of such subjects are provocative..." - Foreword Review (Starred Review)

"...The characters, both likable and vile leap off the pages...I recommend it highly." - Goodreads (Starred Review)

"...A really well researched masterpiece..." - NetGalley (Starred Review)