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lizella's review
4.0
It took me a while to read this book, but I learned so much. About one of the most important steps in our country’s modern history, about how our legislative government works, and how the people can wield influence through cultural force. This book puts the years of 1963-1964 into the full context of their social and political climate and follows the many people and paths of influence required to move our country forward.
There is a passage near the end of the book that sums it up succinctly:”At the same time we must remember that there was no single central character, no prime mover, but rather dozens of contributors. And while this lesson is particularly true for the Civil Rights Act, it is also true for the history of American lawmaking in general.”
There is a passage near the end of the book that sums it up succinctly:”At the same time we must remember that there was no single central character, no prime mover, but rather dozens of contributors. And while this lesson is particularly true for the Civil Rights Act, it is also true for the history of American lawmaking in general.”
catherinew's review
4.0
"In a tragic counterpoint to the triumph of July 2, two weeks [after the bill had been passed], Harlem and parts of Brooklyn erupted in three days of rioting. The violence was touched off by the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager, but it also gave vent to black anger over unemployment, police brutality, school and housing discrimination, and poor city services in minority neighborhoods. Similar rioting broke out in South Central Los Angeles the next year, Cleveland the year after, Newark and Detroit in 1967, and in more than a hundred cities, including Washington , Baltimore, and Chicago, after the April 4, 1968, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr."
An interesting read for class especially in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO) and Eric Garner (Staten Island, NY). Probably the most pleasurable read for my class on political polarization.
An interesting read for class especially in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO) and Eric Garner (Staten Island, NY). Probably the most pleasurable read for my class on political polarization.
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