FREEDOM SUMMER

Bruce Watson's "Freedom Summer"Book Summary
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 Summer 1964 — 700 Americans head for Mississippi. Their jobs — to register voters, teach in Freedom Schools, and end a century of Jim Crow. They call it “Freedom Summer” and on its first day, three young men vanish without a trace. As the summer unfolds, the FBI searches swamps, the Klan rises, and dozens of volunteers are beaten or jailed. Still they soldier on. . . And by summer’s end, nothing — not Mississippi, not the volunteers, and not America itself — will ever be the same.

“The best account I have seen of Freedom Summer.” — Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States

  • “engrossing” – The Economist
  • “remarkable. . . a well-researched, vivid retelling.”  — David Levering Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle
  • “an amazing account of one pivotal summer in Civil Rights history. . . .with a thriller’s pacing.” – Minneapolis Star-Tribune
  • “mesmerizing history” – Publishers’ Weekly (starred review)
  • “a fascinating look at ordinary people at their best and worst.” – Richmond Times-Dispatch