Book Review: “A Gathering of Old Men” by Ernest Gaines

Ernest Gaines, known most widely  for his acclaimed novel  “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” has written other compelling books including A Gathering of Old Men, which concerns racial relations in the American South, and which is considered by some critics to be an American masterpiece in the vain of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

Gaines sets “A Gathering of Old Men” over the course of one day in rural Louisiana where a white man has been shot in the backyard of a black man’s house. Over the course of the novel 18 armed old black men gather at the house, each claiming to be responsible for the killing.