Johnny Bob: The Life and Times of John R. Harrell of Louisville, Illinois Format: other

John R. "Johnny Bob" Harrell's life spanned religious leadership, criminal fugitive status, and a controversial role as a right-wing provocateur.

"Visionary," "Man of God," "Cult Leader," "Fugitive," "Inmate," "Patriot." John R. Harrell of Louisville, IL, far better known as “Johnny Bob," was—rightfully or not—called all those things during his long, colorful life. A deeply religious, independently wealthy man, in the 1960s, Harrell was known throughout the Midwest for his eccentric estate (which included a full-size replica of Washington's Mt. Vernon) and the rogue Louisville-based religious colony he founded which many labeled a "cult." In August of 1961, U.S. federal agents stormed his Louisville property to retrieve an AWOL Marine who had taken refuge on Harrell's "sovereign" grounds. This military action, involving over 100 armed officers, was national news and set off a chain of events in the U.S. courts, in military tribunals, and eventually across the United States as Harrell and his family became fugitives, running from the law. This book retraces Johnny Bob Harrell's nine decades from his claims of an early "miracle" healing to the founding of his religious community to the '61 siege, and Harrell's subsequent life as fugitive, federal inmate, and right-wing provocateur.

CARY O'DELL is a native of Southern Illinois and a graduate of
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and the author of the
previous books Bucky's Dome: The Resurrection of R.
Buckminster Fuller and Anne Hewlett Fuller's Dome Home in
Carbondale, Illinois; Virginia Marmaduke: A Journey in Print from
Carbondale to Chicago; Women Pioneers in Television; and June
Cleaver Was a Feminist! Reconsidering the Female Characters of
Early Television. He works for the Library of Congress and
resides in Culpeper, Virginia.