The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness, and Civil Rights

by Prentice Earl Sanders, Bennett Cohen Narrated by G. Valmont Thomas

Overview

This true-crime police procedural is the riveting story of the racially-motivated serial killings that terrorized San Francisco from 1973 to 1974 and how they were solved. Code named the Zebra Murders, the case involved a series of random violent attacks by African-American men against whites, resulting in fifteen deaths. Author Prentice Earl Sanders, the SFPD's first African-American police chief and one of the lead detectives on the case, takes us back through his investigation as he tried to determine whether the murders were to be considered mere serial killings or acts of political terror. At the same time, he describes the racial discrimination within the police force and how that influenced his investigation. The Zebra Murders is a fascinating look at an era of social and political turbulence and how justice was sought amidst its most violent eruptions.

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2010 - AudioFile

G. Valmont Thomas narrates this account of a series of racially motivated murders in San Francisco between 1973 and 1974. Thomas offers an intelligent reading and is completely convincing as Sanders, the first African-American chief of police in the SFPD. This was the time of the Zodiac killer, the Black Panthers, the Weathermen, and the Symbionese Liberation Army—who infamously kidnapped Patty Hearst. It was also the time when 15 white people were randomly murdered by black assailants in the city. Thomas’s performance is faithful to Sanders and Cohen’s account, which alleges rampant racism in the SFPD and outlines the ongoing struggle to give African-American policemen equal rights while recounting the disturbing killings that pushed San Francisco to the edge of a race war. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169573909
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	12/03/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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