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joaniesickler's review against another edition
3.0
I remember as a pre-teen that Andy Young, then a young Atlanta minister and civil rights organizer (and later the US rep to the UN under Jimmy Carter)came to visit our Congregational church in Minneapolis to tell us about and raise money to support the civil rights struggle in the South. That would have been 1961 or 62 just the time this Freedom Riders story takes place. What an extraordinary time in our history and what courage these fighters have. It's remarkably easy reading for an intense detailed history of the period. Come along for the ride.
k80uva's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent book but it is extremely dense and detailed so may be too much as an overview of the Freedom Riders. I found myself skimming a lot even though I enjoyed the book.
swi10's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
jmanchester0's review against another edition
4.0
Although Arsenault edited his original 700-page scholarly work down to a mere 300 pages, the book is still a bit daunting. It does read more like a history text, or academic work, rather than an unfolding narrative.
That being said, it is still very well written and is about an extremely important topic - important, little-known non-violent civil rights movement in 1961 - prior to some of the more publicized movements that would take place in 1963 and later.
The activities of the Freedom Riders set the stage for much of the activity later in the decade, and probably even for some of the rights movements that would take place afterwards.
Take the time to get through this dense book - it's worth it to get an understanding of what was going on at the time, and to see the sacrifice made by these Freedom Riders.
That being said, it is still very well written and is about an extremely important topic - important, little-known non-violent civil rights movement in 1961 - prior to some of the more publicized movements that would take place in 1963 and later.
The activities of the Freedom Riders set the stage for much of the activity later in the decade, and probably even for some of the rights movements that would take place afterwards.
Take the time to get through this dense book - it's worth it to get an understanding of what was going on at the time, and to see the sacrifice made by these Freedom Riders.
kim_n31's review against another edition
4.0
It started out a little bit slow and it is sometimes difficult to keep track of all of the people involved, but it was very interesting and a detailed account of one of the important aspects of the Civil Rights Movement.
c8_19's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
4.0
Incredibly educational, this book gave me the information I was looking for about the Freedom Ride movement and much more. It took me a while to read simply because there was a lot to process. There were also a lot of names and organizations thrown at you, so, at times, it felt like a lot to keep mentally organized. Still, I am thoroughly pleased with this text as it accomplished, for me, what I wanted, which was to be given a detailed account of this piece of history. Arsenault did an excellent job giving context for what got this movement going, provided details and statements from Riders' stories/memories, and explained the impact as well as controversy.
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