Ragland

<p>In Ragland Billy Peeler the reluctant patriarch of one of Mississippi's best families gets into serious trouble in Memphis. He shoots and kills a black youth in self-defense. Due to the persistent protests of a black clergyman the story spirals toward even more violence and suffering that threatens to set Memphis ablaze and destroy a one hundred- and sixty-year-old dynasty. Is Billy Peeler's Job-like predicament a sign of the times we live in or retribution for the misdeeds of his forebearers? </p>