Alvin Turner's Hanging Men

Alvin O. Turner, emeritus dean of social sciences and humanities and professor of history at East Central University, has just published Hanging Men, a collection of poems based on the 1909 vigilante hangings in Ada.

According to the press release from Mongel Empire Press, Hanging Man  "reveals the human elements—hubris, fear, desire, greed—behind the sensational and sensationalized 1909 vigilante hangings of four men who were slated to stand trial for the murder of a local businessman in Ada, OK. There have been several historical treatments of the hangings and the events that led up to them, but Turner's poetic approach adds rich new layers to the story.

"The collection includes an extensively-researched “Historical Afterward” that contextualizes the events that led up to the hangings, responses to the hangings both contemporaneous and contemporary, and an evaluation of the continuing repercussions of violence in Pontotoc County as related in Robert Mayer's Dreams of Ada and John Grisham's Innocent Man."

Congratulations, Dr. Turner!

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