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The Boys of the Dark
The Boys of the Dark: A Story of Betrayal and Redemption in the Deep South | Robin Gaby Fisher, Michael O'McCarthy, Robert W. Straley
5 posts | 4 read | 6 to read
A story that garnered national attention, this is the harrowing tale of two men who suffered abuses at a reform school in Florida in the 1950s and 60s, and who banded together fifty years later to confront their attackers. Michael O'McCarthy and Robert W. Straley were teens when they were termed "incorrigible youth" by authorities and ordered to attend the Florida School for Boys. They discovered in Marianna, the "City of Southern Charm," an immaculately groomed campus that looked more like an idyllic university than a reform school. But hidden behind the gates of the Florida School for Boys was a hell unlike any they could have imagined. The school's guards and administrators acted as their jailers and tormentors. The boys allegedly bore witness to assault, rape, and possibly even murder. For fifty years, both men---and countless others like them---carried their torment in silence. But a series of unlikely events brought O'McCarthy, now a successful rights activist, and Straley together, and they became determined to expose the Florida School for Boys for what they believed it to be: a youth prison with a century-long history of abuse. They embarked upon a campaign that would change their lives and inspire others. Robin Gaby Fisher, a Pulitzer Prize--winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestselling After the Fire, collaborates with Straley and O'McCarthy to offer a riveting account of their harrowing ordeal. The book goes beyond the story of the two men to expose the truth about a century-old institution and a town that adopted a Nuremberg-like code of secrecy and a government that failed to address its own wrongdoing. What emerges is a tale of strength, resolve, and vindication in the face of the kinds of terror few can imagine.
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hollylynnbee
The Boys of the Dark: A Story of Betrayal and Redemption in the Deep South | Robin Gaby Fisher, Michael O'McCarthy, Robert W. Straley
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Pickpick

I highly recommend this book. It is a quick read, but be warned it will trigger a lot of emotions. Book 4/25 complete 📚

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hollylynnbee
The Boys of the Dark: A Story of Betrayal and Redemption in the Deep South | Robin Gaby Fisher, Michael O'McCarthy, Robert W. Straley
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New book four 🌳 I had to bail on the last one only a few pages in.

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britt_brooke
The Boys of the Dark: A Story of Betrayal and Redemption in the Deep South | Robin Gaby Fisher, Michael O'McCarthy, Robert W. Straley
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Colson Whitehead mentions The Boys of the Dark in his Pulitzer-winning - and deserving - novel depicting the institutionalized child abuse at the Florida School for Boys. In this true account, O‘McCarthy and Straley, former inmates in the 1960s, relive their suffering, vow to expose the school, and perhaps gain closure. It was they, and countless others who stepped forward, who ultimately led to the school‘s closure in 2011.

MaggieCarr I just read a book about this school earlier this year and after realizing the tie to The Nickel Boys I picked it up to can't wait to read it 4y
melissajayne The name of the school sounds familiar; it probably was a short story that I heard on my local news up here in BC @ the time. 4y
britt_brooke @MaggieCarr Stacking that one - thanks! Also recommend 4y
britt_brooke @melissajayne Sounds like it was a big story when it broke, though I don‘t remember it. 4y
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