Shaking the Gates of Hell

A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution

By: John Archibald

Narrated by: Cameron Scoggins

On growing up in the American South of the 1960s—an all-American white boy—son of a long line of Methodist preachers, in the midst of the civil rights revolution, and discovering the culpability of silence within the church. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and columnist for The Birmingham News.

"My dad was a Methodist preacher and his dad was a Methodist preacher," writes John Archibald. "It goes all the way back on both sides of my family. When I am at my best, I think it comes from that sermon place."

Everything Archibald knows and believes about life is "refracted through the stained glass of the Southern church. It had everything to do with people. And fairness. And compassion."

In Shaking the Gates of Hell, Archibald asks: Can a good person remain silent in the face of discrimination and horror, and still be a good person?

Archibald had seen his father, the Rev. Robert L. Archibald, Jr., the son and grandson of Methodist preachers, as a moral authority, a moderate and a moderating force during the racial turbulence of the '60s, a loving and dependable parent, a forgiving and attentive minister, a man many Alabamians came to see as a saint. But was that enough? Even though Archibald grew up in Alabama in the heart of the civil rights movement, he could recall few words about racial rights or wrongs from his father's pulpit at a time the South seethed, and this began to haunt him.

In this moving and powerful book, Archibald writes of his complex search, and of the conspiracy of silence his father faced in the South, in the Methodist Church and in the greater Christian church. Those who spoke too loudly were punished, or banished, or worse. Archibald's father was warned to guard his words on issues of race to protect his family, and he did. He spoke to his flock in the safety of parable, and trusted in the goodness of others, even when they earned none of it, rising through the ranks of the Methodist Church, and teaching his family lessons in kindness and humanity, and devotion to nature and the Earth.

Archibald writes of this difficult, at times uncomfortable, reckoning with his past in this unadorned, affecting book of growth and evolution.

Critic reviews

ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

“A fascinating blend of family memoir and moral reckoning . . . Archibald’s honest account of one family’s uneasy journey through the civil rights and gay rights revolutions makes it clear that there are no easy decisions—or answers—when grappling with issues of faith and social justice.”—The Washington Post

“Evocative . . . a complex, fraught exploration of ‘the complicit and conspiratorial south’ . . . a sincere, poignant synthesis of memoir and social history of a troubled time.”—Kirkus

“Poignant . . . A powerful reflection on the influences of family and community and the ability to act justly in tumultuous times. Biography readers, especially those interested in reconciling the past, will be captivated by Archibald’s honest, conversational style.”—Library Journal

Excellent book

Recommended for everyone. Compelling and thought provoking. John Archibald has once again written something that has given anyone and everyone something to think about.

A must read

A family love story that doesn’t shy away from hard topics, disappointment, and the recognition that good people often fall short in the face of racism, bigotry, and hate. A powerful reflection and charge to do better.

Humor in Serious Times

John Archibald delicately and humorously weaves family stories with the heavy weight of racism and bias in Alabama and within the walls of the church. God loves all His children. Why is it so hard for us to love one another as He wishes? Religious institutions need to practice what they preach. Thank you, John Archibald!

Beautiful.

Oh. My. Gosh. (Sorry Reverend Archibald). I don't even know where to start. I have been an avid reader of John Archibald's column for years. His Pulitzer was well deserved. This book is deserving of awards as well. It is an achingly tender remembrance of his Methodist minister father, but it is so much more. He struggles to come to terms with his disappointment that his father chose to remain silent during times of racial injustice, and again in the face of discrimination against the LGBTQ community. A search through his father's file of labeled and dated sermons only confused him more. Beautiful sermons, but lacking few if any references to the turmoil erupting around him.

John takes us on a journey from his birth in 1963 to the present (with a few side trips into the years before his birth) through those sermons, his memories, and interviews with many who knew and loved his father. Along the way he discovered that in the case of his father,action often spoke louder than words. Still, he longed for the words.

This book is an extremely emotional and startlingly honest look at God, family, church and society. I found it hard to step away, and seriously considered abandoning all my responsibilities until I finished the book. I didn't, but boy, did I ever want to. I'm exhausted. Emotionally wrung out. But I will read it again. And again.

I do have one rather large complaint with the performance. I am always astounded at the prevalence of mispronounced place names in audiobooks. Doesn't anyone research this stuff? Please have the narrator record the name Monte Sano and replace every single MONTE SAYNO. That would up my rating of the performance from 4 to 5 stars.

I loved Archibald’s memoir!

This beautifully written book isn’t just about a Methodist preacher struggling to speak out against racial discrimination in the past. It convicts and inspires those in the church today to speak out against discrimination of any kind including LGBTQ people. Archibald’s deep love for his family made me want to hug my own!