May 10

Hellhound on His Trail

Here are some questions to answer about the book:

1. Galt never gave a direct reason to hate Dr. King – we only know that Galt hated blacks because of his love for Alabama governor George Wallace and his run-in at the bar), so what were his reasons for going after Dr. King?

2. Did you like how the author wrote the novel as a thriller while writing a true crime novel?

3. When people die, people tend to forget all of that person’s bad traits.  Do you think that the public’s opinions of Dr. King changed after he was assassinated? Why or why not?

http://www.randomhouse.com/kdpg/doubleday/hellhound/

4.Do you feel that Hoover and the FBI’s stalking of King was acceptable or an invasion of privacy for no reason?

5. If an assassination of a public figure had happened today, do you think it would take as long to find the killer?  Why or why not?

6. It seemed like Dr. King had a feeling or premonition like he wouldn’t live much longer, how – if you were him – would you have felt and what would you have done?  Why?

7. Should the FBI have shared in the blame of Dr. King’s death for not better protecting him when death threats were a regular thing for Dr. King?

8. Why do you think the book put so much emphasis and detail on the activities King was doing just before getting killed?

9. How did Eric Galt get most of his money?

10. Do you think the authorities would have done something different with Ray if Dr. King had lived?  Would there have been as big of a manhunt?

11. Considering how much Hoover had hated Dr. King, was it surprising the number of people Hoover had sent out for the manhunt for King’s assassin? Why or why not?

12. Do you think Galt realized the effects that King’s assassination would have had on America (like the riots that happened afterwards)?  Were these his intentions or were they unintended consequences?  Why?

13. Why do you think the author included Galt’s previous activities like drugs and bar fights in Mexico and drfiting around Los Angeles working for the Wallace campaign?

Pick two of these questions and answer them by Friday, May 17. 

250 words minimum for your total answer. 

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Posted May 10, 2013 by geoffwickersham in category Blogs

2 thoughts on “Hellhound on His Trail

  1. Kayla Kapen

    2.) I find it cool how Mr. Sides decided to write the novel as more of a thriller. I can honestly say that I was scared of “Eric Galt.” The author describes him as this insane, creepy, and sleazy man and I wanted to say to all of his mistresses, “Run away now! He will hurt you!” Normally in these types of novels that I read, the story is just usually listing facts. In this novel, I felt that the plot had twists and turns just like you read in a thriller novel. One of my favorite things about the novel is the figurative language that is used because that is what made me want to keep reading the novel.
    4.) I don’t believe that it was acceptable for Hoover and the FBI to stalk Dr. King. I understand that times were much different because of the fact that blacks were not considered to be equal. Hoover’s main goal for stalking Dr. King was to bring him down. He wanted the black public to know that one of their most influential leaders was far from perfect. It turns out that there was a lot that wasn’t perfect about Dr. King. First of all, he slept with several mistresses. The FBI found secret tapes of King and these women having sex on several occasions. Second of all, he drank a lot of alcohol and gained weight towards the end of his life. I can understand why that would happen because he was put under so much stress plus he was receiving several death threats. I think that if the FBI had never spied on Dr. King, then he wouldn’t have had as many bad things happen to him.

  2. J'Laan Pittman

    3. I think the public opinion of Dr. King did change after his assassination. Most who had criticized him suddenly felt that he had no flaws. It is a strange thing that happens to people. When someone dies, no one wants to speak of their mistakes or flaws; and everyone wants to have known them personally or at least acts like it. People can change when a traumatic event takes place. When someone is assasinated they are almost immortalized. Murder just seems to invoke sympathy in people more so than just death of natural causes. Also honoring the dead may have been a factor as well. They say “Don’t speak ill of the dead” and that’s just what they did.

    4. Hoover and the FBI’s actions were inexcusable. They pried into Dr. King’s life when it was not necessary. Spying on someone without their knowledge is hard enough to justify. When is the line drawn? They only had hunches to go on when they bugged his phones and had people trailing him. It was not a matter of national security; these were just excuses for not liking King. King was a flawed man; that was clear. But intentionally trying to bring him down by secretly collecting info on him is a slick move. The FBI might have just been following Hoover’s orders, but they had to know what they were doing was wrong. Fear of Hoover played greatly into things. No one wanted to cross Hoover and confront him about the morals of what they were doing.

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