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    Summary and Analysis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story: Based on the Book by John Berendt
    Summary and Analysis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story: Based on the Book by John Berendt
    Summary and Analysis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story: Based on the Book by John Berendt
    Ebook61 pages43 minutes

    Summary and Analysis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story: Based on the Book by John Berendt

    By Worth Books

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    About this ebook

    So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tells you what you need to know—before or after you read John Berendt’s book.

    Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
     
    This short summary and analysis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story includes:
     
    • Historical context
    • Chapter-by-chapter overviews
    • Profiles of the main characters
    • What’s what in Savannah
    • Important quotes
    • Fascinating trivia
    • Glossary of terms
    • Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
     
    About Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt:
     
    John Berendt’s engrossing bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tells the story of his time spent in Savannah, Georgia. Berendt didn’t just observe the city’s lovely locales and its quirky characters—he also became immersed in a murder case that would shock and fascinate much of Georgia. 
     
    Part true crime saga, part travel diary, part reportage, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a suspenseful, sharply observed account of Berendt’s sojourns in Savannah and the murder trial of one if its socialites.
     
    The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMar 14, 2017
    ISBN9781504044714
    Summary and Analysis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story: Based on the Book by John Berendt
    Author

    Worth Books

    Worth Books’ smart summaries get straight to the point and provide essential tools to help you be an informed reader in a busy world, whether you’re browsing for new discoveries, managing your to-read list for work or school, or simply deepening your knowledge. Available for fiction and nonfiction titles, these are the book summaries that are worth your time.  

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      Book preview

      Summary and Analysis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - Worth Books

      Contents

      Context

      Overview

      Summary

      What’s What in Savannah

      Cast of Characters

      Direct Quotes and Analysis

      Trivia

      What’s That Word

      Critical Response

      About John Berendt

      For Your Information

      Bibliography

      Copyright

      Context

      Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt’s nonfiction account of the years he spent in Savannah, Georgia, occupies a unique place in American literature. Part true crime, part travelogue, it’s a hard book to categorize—though not, apparently, to sell. More than 20 years after its original publication in 1994, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil remains one of the longest-standing New York Times bestsellers ever, having spent a record four years on the nonfiction hardcover list.

      The book has its origins in the mid-1980s, when Berendt began splitting his time between New York, where he wrote and edited for publications including Esquire and New York, and Savannah, Georgia, the small Southern city that had kindled his imagination since he was a child. Over 8 years, Berendt gets to know an eccentric assortment of Savannah residents, several of whom feature centrally in his book. One of Berendt’s most remarkable Savannahian friends was Jim Williams, a local businessman whose murder trial and three retrials captured the city’s attention for years.

      But the book’s true central character is the city of Savannah itself. A genteel yet isolated backwater, the humid charm of Savannah permeates Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Berendt’s depiction of the city enthralled his readers: Tourism in Savannah exploded after Midnight’s publication, and residents of the old port city took to calling it simply The Book. The city gained even more exposure after Clint Eastwood’s 1997 film adaptation, starring John Cusack and Kevin Spacey, hit theaters. Readers continue to discover Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil decades after its publication: To date, The Book has sold approximately 5 million copies worldwide.

      Overview

      Captivated by the beautiful, insular city of Savannah, Georgia, and restless in his life as a magazine writer in New York, John Berendt decides to experiment with a new living situation: While keeping his home in New York, he engages in month-long sojourns to Savannah. He plans to observe the city and take copious notes—and for eight years, he does just that. The result of his experiment is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a novelistic account of the real-life people, places, and events—including murder—that comprised his adventures in Savannah.

      Part One, which constitutes the first half of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, provides an introduction to the unusual characters, courtly but isolated culture, and physical beauty of Savannah, Georgia. The book opens with Berendt meeting with Jim Williams, a Savannah bon vivant who made his fortune collecting antiques, and who resides in a fabulous mansion called Mercer House. Berendt is intrigued—especially when he meets Danny Hansford, an alluring but violent young man who apparently works for Williams in some mysterious capacity.

      In the subsequent chapters of Part One, Berendt describes the events leading up to

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