In 1997, Midnight was made into a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, and a Broadway musical adaptation is in the works. Published in 1994, Midnight was a New York Times bestseller for four years, was a 1995 Pulitzer Prize finalist, has had over 100 printings, and doubled the tourism trade in Savannah. The tale was so compelling that it substantially improved three separate economies: his own, his publisher’s, and the city of Savannah’s. In the eight years he spent visiting and finally living in Savannah during the 1980s, Berendt gathered enough stories, atmosphere, architecture, and local folklore to create a highly successful fusion of true crime and travelogue. “People thought I was crazy, but I didn’t want to meet a deadline or owe money,” he says. “This is journalism at its most accomplished it is creative nonfiction as enveloping and heart-embracing as good fiction.”Īrmed with the verve of a columnist and the wisdom of an editor, John Berendt wrote the modern classic Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story over the course of seven years, without a publisher’s advance.
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