LITERATURE + LECTURES

Saturday, July 23 at 1:00pm, Blue Willow Bookshop presents David R. Stokes. David R. Stokes will discuss and sign his book, The Shooting Salvationist.

The Shooting Salvationist chronicles what may be the most famous story you have never heard. In the 1920’s, the Reverend J. Frank Norris railed against vice and conspiracies he saw everywhere to a congregation of more than 10,000 at First Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, the largest congregation in America, the first “megachurch.” Following the death of William Jennings Bryan, Norris was a national figure poised to become the leading fundamentalist in America. This changed, however, in a moment of violence one sweltering Saturday in July when he shot and killed an unarmed man in his church office. Norris was indicted for murder and, if convicted, would be executed in the state of Texas’ electric chair.

Set during the Jazz Age, when Prohibition was the law of the land, The Shooting Salvationist leads to a courtroom drama pitting some of the most powerful lawyers of the era against each other with the life of a wildly popular, and equally loathed, religious leader hanging in the balance.

David R. Stokes grew up in the downriver suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. And though he moved away from the area many years ago, he remains a devoted fan of the Detroit Tigers, Vernors “pop,” Sanders Hot Fudge, and Michigan Coney Hot Dogs. A minister for more than 30 years, along the way he added radio broadcaster, columnist, and author to his resume, while living and serving in Texas, Illinois, New York, and for the past 13 years—beautiful Northern Virginia. David has been married to his wife, Karen, for 35 years and they have been blessed with three daughters—all now grown and married and with wonderful children of their own. There are, in fact, seven grandchildren, a fact verified by hundreds—maybe thousands—of pictures, as well as an ever-growing collection of toys joyously cluttering their home.