Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create accountThe perfect last-minute gift
Audiobook credit bundles can be delivered instantly, given worldwide, and support local bookstores!
Start giftingLimited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up todayThe Lost Sons of Omaha
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreA NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023
“A meticulously researched and briskly written account that deftly weaves the influences of racial injustice, economic disparity, incendiary social media, and guns.” —Associated Press
From the award-winning journalist Bob Woodward calls “one of the truly great reporters working today,” a searing account of two linked and tragic deaths stemming from the 2020 George Floyd protests that explores the complex political and racial mistrust and division of today’s America.
“One of the most superb testaments about the confusion, despair, and—hopefully—humility that frames our century that one could ever hope to read.” —Hilton Als
On May 30, 2020, in Omaha, Nebraska, amid the protests that rocked our nation after George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, thirty-eight-year-old white bar owner and Marine veteran Jake Gardner fatally shot James Scurlock, a twenty-two-year-old Black protestor and young father. What followed were two investigations of Scurlock’s death, one conducted by the white county attorney Don Kleine, who concluded that Gardner had legally acted in self-defense and released him without a trial, and a second grand jury inquiry conducted by Black special prosecutor Fred Franklin that indicted Gardner for manslaughter. Days after the indictment, Gardner killed himself with a single bullet to the head.
The deaths of both Scurlock and Gardner gave rise to a toxic brew of misinformation, false claims, and competing political agendas. The two men, each with their own complicated backgrounds, were turned into caricatures. The twin tragedies amounted to an ugly and heartbreaking reflection of a painfully divided country. Here, Joe Sexton “elevates a made-for-social-media tragedy into a kaleidoscopic account of race, justice, and urban politics” (The New York Times Book Review) masterfully unpacking the whole twisted, nearly unbelievable chronicle and explaining which claims were true and which distorted or simply false. “A book of intense moral weight and integrity” (The Washington Post), The Lost Sons of Omaha involves some of the most pressing issues facing America today, including our country’s broken criminal justice system, the failure to care for the men and women who fight our wars, the dangerous spread of misinformation, particularly on social media, and the urgent need to band together in the collective pursuit of truth, fairness, and healing.
Joe Sexton, as a senior editor at The New York Times and ProPublica, has directed six projects awarded Pulitzer Prizes, including the award for breaking news for his staff’s coverage of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s downfall. He has shared in three Emmy Awards for documentary film, one of them for a harrowing look at the reemergence of violent white supremacists in America. As a reporter, he covered sports, politics, and the country’s criminal justice system. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing. Sexton is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn and the father of four daughters.
Featured in these playlists...
Audiobook details
Author:
Joe Sexton
Narrator:
Dion Graham
ISBN:
9781797155753
Length:
11 hours 53 minutes
Language:
English
Publisher:
Simon & Schuster Audio
Publication date:
May 9, 2023
Edition:
Unabridged
Libro.fm rank:
#43,516 Overall
Genre rank:
#2,193 in Politics & Economy