Hellhound on his Trail

Hampton Sides

A taut, episodic narrative, it opens with Ray’s escape from prison nine months earlier. Taking the alias Eric Galt, he begins stalking the troubled King as the preacher struggles to control the violent elements within his own fractious coalition.

Sides contrasts these stories with the origins of the civil rights movement, the increasing urbanisation of African-Americans in the south and the relocation of socio-economic hierarchies from the plantations to cities like Memphis, site of the assassination. Built on cotton and perched on racial fault lines since its foundation, Memphis comes alive here in rich, sensory detail.