The Leo Frank Case (A Brown Thrasher Book)

Leonard Dinnerstein’s The Leo Frank Case, first published by Columbia University Press in 1968, serves as a definitive academic examination of the 1913 kidnapping and murder of Mary Phagan and the subsequent lynching of Leo Frank in Georgia. Born out of Dinnerstein's doctoral research at Columbia University, the work emerged during a period of shifting historiography in the American South, aiming to disentangle the complex intersections of antisemitism, labor unrest, and regional prejudice that defined the trial.

The book is widely regarded for its meticulous use of primary sources, including previously sealed court records and private correspondence. Dinnerstein sought to provide an objective legal and sociological analysis of how the atmosphere of anti-industrial sentiment and xenophobia influenced the prosecution’s case against Frank. Upon its release, it was lauded by historians for its analytical depth and its willingness to confront a painful chapter in American judicial history, eventually becoming a staple text for those studying the history of prejudice in the United States.