The history of the murder of Emmett Till is twisted with so much more than First expected. This is a very personal history of the south and the issues that are still so prevalent .unfortunately today. You can tell how much the story affected the author, when he talks of his ancestors involvement with the segregation laws you can tell it’s a difficult thing to write, but he has written it none the less as it is meant to be known, Emmett Till should never be for forgotten. It took me a while to read it as I needed to take time to follow all the family lines, so many names mentioned, all important and shows how connected it all is.

Thompson doesn’t offer a tidy history—he drags Mississippi’s buried past into the light, raw and unresolved. Centering the barn where Emmett Till was tortured, he builds outward, letting that place speak for generations of violence, silence, resistance, and survival. Cotton, blood, land, legacy—it’s all here, tangled and inescapable. The brilliance lies in how he refuses to smooth the edges. There are names we should have known, stories we were never told. It’s not comfortable reading, and it shouldn’t be. A necessary book.

This book is so intensely dark and heartbreaking. Essential reading for everyone and really got me thinking about the topic in ways I haven't before. Immensely powerful.

The Barn is a thorough investigation of the murder of Emmett Till and of the land where it happened. Thompson digs deep into the history of the Mississippi Delta - the land, its people and its culture - to build up a complete contextual picture of the seeds of Southern racism and its legacy. The level of detail is at times almost overwhelming, with threads branching off in multiple directions, but there is a sold emotional core at the heart of the narrative.

Rich in reporting and first-person testimony from Till's family, The Barn is a comprehensive examination not just of one case by of a whole culture of racism that leaves a deep scar on the Delta to this day.