jhbandcats's review against another edition
5.0
Disturbing and appalling. During riots in Detroit in the summer of 1967, police, National Guard, and private security mounted an all-out assault on a motel, rounded up the twelve guests, and proceeded to beat them all (even breaking a rifle stock over one man’s head), rip the clothes off two women, and kill three of the men. The crux of the story: the cops and National Guard were white and the guests were mostly black - except for the two women. This book details ingrained racism where the whites don’t even know they’re racist, they just know that this is the way white cops treat black people.
The events at the Algiers Motel that July night were made into a powerful movie by Kathryn Bigelow, “Detroit.” I’d been wanting to read this since I saw the movie three years ago.
The book is a collection of interviews, police reports, and court transcripts. Some have criticized the format as being too chaotic but I think it mirrors the chaos of Detroit during those days, and the Algiers Motel that night.
Highly recommended.
The events at the Algiers Motel that July night were made into a powerful movie by Kathryn Bigelow, “Detroit.” I’d been wanting to read this since I saw the movie three years ago.
The book is a collection of interviews, police reports, and court transcripts. Some have criticized the format as being too chaotic but I think it mirrors the chaos of Detroit during those days, and the Algiers Motel that night.
Highly recommended.
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