As with all historical events, renewed critical analysis can help bring a new lens to the injustices of the past. Local author BJ Hollars’ new book, Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America, resurfaces the ruthless barbarity against black Americans during the Civil Rights Movement, reassigning voices to forgotten victims. Hollars, who’s also a new assistant professor of creative writing at UWEC, wrote the book as a result of his extensive research at the University of Alabama. He took interest in Alabama’s reconciliation with its past reputation as the most murderous state, notorious for its violence against African Americans. The book’s title refers to the 13 wraps of rope that made up the typical noose used by the Ku Klux Klan during the era’s lynchings. In the introduction, Hollars writes, “I never expected to tackle such a subject, nor did I feel qualified to do so. But as I continued researching, I became invested in recounting the stories the victims could no longer tell themselves.” With a 15-page bibliography, Hollars certainly holds credibility. Through several lynching accounts spanning seven decades, Hollars takes readers on a journalistic investigation, confronting allegations, misinformation, and lies, urging readers to question perpetrators of violence and preserve the memories of countless innocent lives. This book is too important not to include on your reading list this year.