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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah StoryShots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely
Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman's Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city is certain to become a modern classic.
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Published: 01/13/1994
ISBN: 9780679429227
Pages: 400
Weight: 1.43lbs
Size: 9.57h x 5.98w x 1.30d
Award: Book Sense Book of the Year Award - Honor Book
Review Citations: Library Journal 01/01/1994 pg. 139
Booklist 10/15/1993 pg. 413
Publishers Weekly 12/13/1993
Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 19791 / Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Reading Level: 6.2 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 21
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4.6 ★★★★★
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 5
An excellent collection of essays
Format: Paperback
An excellent collection of essays. A few of which deserve a brief note.
As someone from within the Reformed tradition, I particularly appreciated the chapters on Calvin and the missional impulse of the Reformed branch of the Reformation (Chapters 4, 5, and 6). Karen Spiecker Stetina’s chapter on Calvin’s Geneva as a virtual mission training center to launch missionaries around Europe and elsewhere was not only enlightening but instructive. The chapter detailing the Reformed mission to Brazil (chapter 6)–while the mission itself was underwhelming in its achievements–was especially intriguing. These chapters thoroughly undue the misconception of Calvin and his followers as missionally indifferent.
Turning to the Catholic portion of the essays (the book is split into two portions, one detailing Protestant mission in the 16th century, and the other, Catholic mission during that period), one will find essays dealing with spirituality surrounding missions (chapters 10 and 13), the intersection of missions and colonialism (chapters 12, 14, and 15), and the issue of accommodation in mission (chapter 11). All of which are exceptional.
As someone who has spent time practicing and studying mission on the continent of Africa, I found John Thornton’s chapter on the Jesuit mission to Kongo in this section to be particularly insightful. This is partly due to the nature of the mission itself. As Thornton points out, the mission was not to evangelize but to “reform a new but vibrant Catholic Church” in Kongo (265). This chapter has much to teach contemporary mission practitioners in Subsaharan Africa as the situation is largely the same for missionaries there today: one of building up rather than evangelizing. What’s more the mission failed after only a 7 year stent. There is much here for missionaries to evangelized lands/peoples today to sit with and learn from.
But perhaps the greatest benefit of the book is an expansion of an understanding of mission. Rather than viewing mission narrowly as moving to a foreign land, the essays (particularly in the Protestant section of the book), as Smither notes in the introduction, “allow Luther, Calvin, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, and others to define mission on their terms and through their practice” (1). One must read the book to come a full scope of how they did so; but it ranges from being light in dark places through the preaching of the true Gospel, to church planting, to the creation of training centers just to name a few (and those are just from a single chapter!).
Gallagher and Smither’s Sixteenth Century Mission is an excellent contribution to the study of Christian world missions especially as it deals with an era typically thought to be devoid of what we today understand that phrase to entail.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free from Lexham Press in exchange for an honest and thorough review. I was not required to write a positive review
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Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2021
★★★★★ 5
Somewhat niche but a treasure-trove nonetheless!
Format: Paperback
A somewhat niche topic but a small treasure-trove of a book nonetheless! Definitely something I would recommend to anyone thinking seriously about and planning on studying mission.
More than just a descriptive history book, the various essays focus on what can be drawn and learned from particular figures and movements. I picked the book because I knew next to nothing about 16th century missions (and not very much about Protestant or Roman Catholic missions in general) and thought it would be good to fill in some of my knowledge gaps. I was not disappointed! There are essays on people I never even heard of before, and now wish I could know so much more! Who knew there was a Czech theologian (Jan Hus) who wrote a devotional for women in the early 1400s? I certainly didn’t.
Also, the very first essay I found to be a healthy challenge to Gustav Warnack’s conceptualization of mission (that ...“it must be a systematic work, preferable by an institution outside the church that consistently sends missionaries to previously unevangelized areas.” (p.12)) and his critique of early Reformation missional work (namely that there was none).
Plus, while I had heard that Calvin had sent some missionaries to Brazil, I never knew there was so much drama with Villegagnon behind it all! The whole ordeal and everything leading up to it sounds like it would make for pretty crazy reality show or a great movie.
The book touches on missions to a variety of locations, Kongo, China, Brazil, Latin America, and Europe itself, and is especially helpful in understanding the origins and philosophies of Reformed, Anabaptist, Jesuit, and Franciscan missiologies. It also gives light to the many complexities of mission work, dealing with politics, economy, culture, competing religion, and language barriers.
Not all of the essays are created equal but I definitely got something from each one. Also, as a small disclaimer, the book may be a bit more of a laborious read for some. It deals with a great many events, places, and names that may be unfamiliar to someone not studied in Christian missional work (like myself). But working through such things can yield some ripe fruit.
Being a collection of essays around a particular topic, it is a great book to pick up and set down again, not requiring large chunks of time to work through. In fact, it may be better read in several small intervals, one chapter per sitting, to properly digest each essays significance.
I received this book for free from Lexham Press in exchange for an honest review, whether negative or positive. The views of this expressed in this review are entirely my own.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2021
★★★★★ 5
Sturdy…quality finish
Color: Black
Super sturdy ..high quality metal
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Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2026
★★★★★ 5
Shelf
Directions are easy to understand.. you will need another person to help you but, was able to assemble by myself. Took me about 20 mins to put it together. Looks great.. very sturdy and lightweight.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2025
★★★★★ 5
The shelf is sturdy and relatively easy to asseble.
The instructions were relatively easy to follow, and the assembly took about an hour to complete. The shelf is sturdy.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2025