Most-Read Posts According to Blogger Stats

Although I have tried, I cannot predict how many readers will be attracted to a particular post. On a number of occasions, I have researched and written posts that I thought would be of interest to a large audience, only to find the actual number of readers was very low.  In other instances, the opposite was true.  Nevertheless, I continue to analyze the popularity of posts on topics that have appealed to the largest number of readers of this blog, and today I thought it might be fun to list the top five posts, according to Blogger statistics.  So here they are, listed in the  order of reader popularity.


Robert Johnson's Grave and a Trip to Tallahatchie Flats, June 16, 2009


"One Night of Madness" - A True Account of the Leon Turner Murder Case,
October 20, 2009


Burel Family - Pennsylvania>Union County, SC>Gwinnett County, GA, March 28, 2009

Uriah Conner and His Descendants - November 19, 2009


The Netherland Family of Holmes County, MS - February 22, 2009

"One Night of Madness," A Book Review

Mississippi, a state long recognized for its great writers and their widely-recognized literary contributions, has a new author on the scene. Stokes McMillan, a native of Attala County who now lives in Houston, Texas, has recently published his first book, "One Night of Madness," and early sales show the book is already a huge success. McMillan's book, which grew out of his interest in a scrapbook he inherited from his mother that contained photos taken by his late father, is the result of over seven years of research, interviews, and skilled writing that brings the details of the story all together.

The setting for "One Night of Madness" is Attala County, Mississippi, where several generations of McMillan's own family once lived and where his father was a photographer for the local newspaper owned by his family, The Star-Herald. The cover of the book itself is a copy of an actual photograph taken by the author's father, Billy McMillan, a photograph that won him an award for Best Picture of 1950 from the National Press Club.

As he develops the backdrop for this book about the murder of a black family by three white men, McMillan, uses his personal knowledge of Attala County and his appealing and easy-to-follow descriptive writing to intricately tell a story that began several decades before the tragic events of early 1950 unfolded. His keen use of detailed information gleaned during personal interviews with certain central characters in the book allow the reader to become intimately acquainted with the real people about whom the story is told. Throughout the book, the author further documents this true story that drew national attention with copies of more photographs taken by his father and with facts about the people and the events he uncovered during years of research in various archives.

"One Night of Madness" is a book that I highly recommend. It has all the elements of a successful movie, including love, race, fear, revenge, politics, and courtroom drama. And for me, reading the book was a spell-binding experience, one that I will not forget. I expect we will see more books by this talented new author - I sincerely hope so.

To read more about Stokes McMillan and a recent article about the book in Jackson, Mississippi's Clarion Ledger, click on the link provided here.

The Star-Herald Runs Second Excerpt from "One Night of Madness"

Today, The Star-Herald, Kosciusko, Mississippi's newspaper, ran a second excerpt from Stokes McMillan's soon to be released book, "One Night of Madness." The initial excerpt appeared in the November 5, 2009 edition of the paper.

A link to the second excerpt as it appeared in the November 12, 2009 edition of the paper can be accessed by clicking here.

"One Night of Madness" by Stokes McMillan

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about Stokes McMillan's soon-to-be-published book, "One Night of Madness." According to one of my readers and also a distant cousin, Kosciusko's newspaper, the Star Herald, recently published an article about McMillan's book.

To read the article, containing the first of four excerpts from the book, click on the link provided here.