"Killing the Messenger is a crackling work of nonfiction, impossible to put down." - Nina Burleigh

On sale February 7, 2012

What people are saying about Killing the Messenger:

"Killing the Messenger is a crackling work of nonfiction, impossible to put down. Like Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven, Thomas Peele unpacks a tale of extremism and evil spawned by another peculiar American religion, The Nation of Islam. The malicious leader Yusuf Bey and his murderous followers and sons in the Your Black Muslim Bakery cult wreaked bloody havoc on the Bay Area for decades, until finally brought down by their brazen killing of a community journalist, Chauncey Bailey." - Nina Burleigh, New York Times bestselling author of The Fatal Gift of Beauty

"Tough, taut, and true! Killing the Messenger is a non-fiction noir trip through the dark side of religion, journalism, racial politics, and law enforcement. A REAL thriller." - Robert Lipsyte, author of An Accidental Sportswriter

"Peele exposes the sordid and homicidal history of the Nation of Islam and its offshoots. Yusef Bey, like David Koresh and Jim Jones before him, was the leader of a cult of personality. While most members of any cult are essentially good but misguided people, Peele shows how anyone, no matter how well-intentioned, will do almost anything - including kill - if he believes his leader is divine. Chauncey Bailey was, sadly, a victim of Bey's megalomania." --Karl Evanzz, author of The Judas Factor and The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad.

"Thomas Peele is one of the great investigative reporters working today. His remarkable and obsessively researched book charts the trajectory of an Oakland crime family responsible for a string of murders. More important, perhaps, it exposes the willful myopia of the city officials and community leaders who allowed this outfit to operate over a span of decades." -A.C. Thompson, Investigative reporter, ProPublica and PBS Frontline

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From reviews of the book:

"A complex, carefully constructed story of the development of the Black Muslim Movement and one of its most notorious leaders" - Kirkus Reviews

An "eye-opening narrative about radical religion and its consequences.Peele renders characters and scenes with rich detail and his chronicle of events surrounding Bailey's death unfolds with the seamlessness of a fictional thriller, would that were the case" - Publisher's Weekly

A "riveting account. Peele examines the broader context of the Black Muslim movement; the troubled socioeconomics of Oakland, where the cult recruited young black men , particularly ex-offenders looking for jobs; and the courage of a Black journalist willing to take on the Beys" - Booklist

A "riveting odyssey ... The intersection of three powerful stories:" the Beys, Chauncey Bailey, and the police - Essence Magazine

Contact Thomas Peele

Mr. Peele is represented by Elizabeth Evans at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.