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bryan8063's review against another edition
5.0
This was a real eye opener. It is a must read for anyone interested in civil rights history and issues. I don't think I will look at a neighborhood quite the same ever again.
jehignite's review against another edition
5.0
A very import book about the intentionally hidden history of sundown towns in America.
andipants's review against another edition
4.0
This is a well-researched book on an important and often overlooked topic. While redlining and racially exclusive suburbs have been starting to get some attention in progressive circles in recent years, I've seen very little discussion of independent, racially homogeneous small towns, except perhaps to write them off as hopelessly closed-minded and backward. These characteristics often seem to be treated as inevitable, the natural order of things, but this book goes to sometimes dizzying lengths to demonstrate that no, the racial distribution was not always this way, and yes, the change was absolutely conscious and intentional. My own hometown is mentioned multiple times as an example, and while I'm not surprised in the least, it certainly came as new information to me. His discussion of "knowing and not knowing" definitely hit home for me (both figuratively and literally). If we want to address our country's race problems, we must be able to accurately diagnose their causes and contributing factors, and this book is a vital contribution to that conversation.
My one criticism is that it felt overly long and sometimes repetitive. I think a lot of the points could have been made just as effectively in a shorter book, or even perhaps some long-form journalism. Then again, these are important points and there's something to be said for really hammering them home. That the author provides multiple illustrative examples for most of his claims and preemptively addresses likely questions and objections certainly demonstrates the breadth of his research and the thorough work that has gone into crafting the arguments. It does make for a slow and sometimes depressing read, though with the subject matter, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
My one criticism is that it felt overly long and sometimes repetitive. I think a lot of the points could have been made just as effectively in a shorter book, or even perhaps some long-form journalism. Then again, these are important points and there's something to be said for really hammering them home. That the author provides multiple illustrative examples for most of his claims and preemptively addresses likely questions and objections certainly demonstrates the breadth of his research and the thorough work that has gone into crafting the arguments. It does make for a slow and sometimes depressing read, though with the subject matter, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
books_tea_and_candlelight's review against another edition
Very dense and repetitive. When the library loan ran out I wasn’t very far into it. May take it out again when I have more time
casmonido's review against another edition
Very valuable but very long, maybe I'll finish it later
davehershey's review against another edition
4.0
I had never heard of sundown towns until recently. Chalk it up to poor education. Maybe white privilege. Historical amnesia. Whatever it is, I am certainly not alone. Sundown towns are surprisingly not well known, which is why James Loewen wrote this book.
Up front, this book is thorough. Loewen did tons of research to document sundown towns. This is both a benefit and a curse. It is a benefit because it is the first (only?) major book on sundown towns. The curse is that it is long, dry and at times a bit repetitive. I doubt as many people read it as probably would a shorter, more popular level book (case in point, I am the first person in a decade to check it out of our library). Regardless of any flaws though, this is a book that must be read and a story that must be told.
I mean, we all know the story Americans like to tell ourselves, right? Our country is progressively improving. We're the bulwark of freedom in the world. Sure, we've had problems in the past but once we overcome them we just get better and better.
Loewen shows this story is a myth. Race relations in America were better in 1885 then in 1930. Immediately after the civil war, during the time of reconstruction, black people were in a better place then they were during slavery. Then in 1890 everything changed. But even here, the story tends to focus on the south. Federal troops were removed from the south, southern whites quickly took over, any blacks who had been elected or gained position of power were tossed out. Loewen shows that racism grew in the north and midwest.
There were not really sundown towns in the south. To some degree, southern whites were used to living around blacks. Why throw your servants out of town, southern whites would wonder? It was in the rest of the country where blacks were kicked out of towns, signs were put up warning all blacks to be gone by sundown (some towns even sounded a whistle at 6 PM warning blacks to leave!). Loewen goes into detail for the variety of reasons that even towns that had supported the northern cause and freeing the slaves became racist (the reasons are many and varied). Its interesting that by ignoring sundown towns, northerners can see racism as a southern problem. Even books about the civil rights era and the great migration, Loewen shows, tend to focus on the south.
Further, the phenomenon of sundown towns affects us down to today. Loewen talks about how many Americans just assume black people like living in cities, which is why many urban areas are more populated by blacks. But historically, this was not the case. After the civil war, blacks were moving all over the place. It was only when small towns expelled them, and cities pushed them into certain neighborhoods, that this idea connecting black people to urban areas developed. The same goes for all or mostly white towns today. Loewen talks about asking people in a town - whether in Illinois, Ohio, Oregon or Arkansas - why no black people live here. The response is often simply, they don't want to. Maybe even some would say they never did. Yet Loewen shows from census data that they did once, they were kicked out and never came back. Or when they tried to come back, they were harassed, beaten, had rocks thrown and their houses burned down.
There really is so much here. He talks about integrated sports teams visiting sundown towns and having to schedule the game early enough they could be out by dusk. He speaks of the harassment such teams faced. He even writes of how the occasional white person who would hire or defend a black employee or friend would face attacks. Sundown towns were not limited to blacks, though blacks were the majority, but in places also expelled Mexicans, Chinese, Jews, gays and others.
I've been thinking a lot about race in America lately. I've certainly grown up with white privilege. My hometown might have been a sundown town, it was pretty much all white after all (and Loewen would argue such demographics rarely happened by accident). That story of progress is powerful, in which we assume through Civil War to Jim Crow to Civil Rights we are forever improved. But the stories Loewen tells are not the distant past and still affect us today. I'm not sure what the solution is (though Loewen mentions some), but I think more confession, admission of past evils and reconciliation (even reparations) is a good start.
Overall, read this book if you want to learn about a dark and not well known part of American history. Even if you have to skim at points (I did!) it is worth it to get a feel for this story.
Up front, this book is thorough. Loewen did tons of research to document sundown towns. This is both a benefit and a curse. It is a benefit because it is the first (only?) major book on sundown towns. The curse is that it is long, dry and at times a bit repetitive. I doubt as many people read it as probably would a shorter, more popular level book (case in point, I am the first person in a decade to check it out of our library). Regardless of any flaws though, this is a book that must be read and a story that must be told.
I mean, we all know the story Americans like to tell ourselves, right? Our country is progressively improving. We're the bulwark of freedom in the world. Sure, we've had problems in the past but once we overcome them we just get better and better.
Loewen shows this story is a myth. Race relations in America were better in 1885 then in 1930. Immediately after the civil war, during the time of reconstruction, black people were in a better place then they were during slavery. Then in 1890 everything changed. But even here, the story tends to focus on the south. Federal troops were removed from the south, southern whites quickly took over, any blacks who had been elected or gained position of power were tossed out. Loewen shows that racism grew in the north and midwest.
There were not really sundown towns in the south. To some degree, southern whites were used to living around blacks. Why throw your servants out of town, southern whites would wonder? It was in the rest of the country where blacks were kicked out of towns, signs were put up warning all blacks to be gone by sundown (some towns even sounded a whistle at 6 PM warning blacks to leave!). Loewen goes into detail for the variety of reasons that even towns that had supported the northern cause and freeing the slaves became racist (the reasons are many and varied). Its interesting that by ignoring sundown towns, northerners can see racism as a southern problem. Even books about the civil rights era and the great migration, Loewen shows, tend to focus on the south.
Further, the phenomenon of sundown towns affects us down to today. Loewen talks about how many Americans just assume black people like living in cities, which is why many urban areas are more populated by blacks. But historically, this was not the case. After the civil war, blacks were moving all over the place. It was only when small towns expelled them, and cities pushed them into certain neighborhoods, that this idea connecting black people to urban areas developed. The same goes for all or mostly white towns today. Loewen talks about asking people in a town - whether in Illinois, Ohio, Oregon or Arkansas - why no black people live here. The response is often simply, they don't want to. Maybe even some would say they never did. Yet Loewen shows from census data that they did once, they were kicked out and never came back. Or when they tried to come back, they were harassed, beaten, had rocks thrown and their houses burned down.
There really is so much here. He talks about integrated sports teams visiting sundown towns and having to schedule the game early enough they could be out by dusk. He speaks of the harassment such teams faced. He even writes of how the occasional white person who would hire or defend a black employee or friend would face attacks. Sundown towns were not limited to blacks, though blacks were the majority, but in places also expelled Mexicans, Chinese, Jews, gays and others.
I've been thinking a lot about race in America lately. I've certainly grown up with white privilege. My hometown might have been a sundown town, it was pretty much all white after all (and Loewen would argue such demographics rarely happened by accident). That story of progress is powerful, in which we assume through Civil War to Jim Crow to Civil Rights we are forever improved. But the stories Loewen tells are not the distant past and still affect us today. I'm not sure what the solution is (though Loewen mentions some), but I think more confession, admission of past evils and reconciliation (even reparations) is a good start.
Overall, read this book if you want to learn about a dark and not well known part of American history. Even if you have to skim at points (I did!) it is worth it to get a feel for this story.
lifeinpoetry's review against another edition
2.0
This book needed serious editing. Hearing variations of the same phrase common to most sundown towns said over and over and over again and variations of the same ignorant statements from locals was seriously numbing . In the text he meanders from town to town with very little variations. I know this text is about sundown towns but the text could be effective without the n-word being stated multiple times every minute or two.
DNF at a little over 19 1/2 hrs after he got self-righteous and started in on how Black people supposedly play up their fears of sundown towns and make a big deal over something that is now supposedly non-deadly. It's nothing more than humiliation now according to the author but the multiple viral videos and news items of law enforcement being called on Black people during the past decade or few show a different story.
DNF at a little over 19 1/2 hrs after he got self-righteous and started in on how Black people supposedly play up their fears of sundown towns and make a big deal over something that is now supposedly non-deadly. It's nothing more than humiliation now according to the author but the multiple viral videos and news items of law enforcement being called on Black people during the past decade or few show a different story.
smemmott's review against another edition
5.0
An eye-opening book about towns or suburbs in the U.S. that excluded or still exclude blacks or other minorities. It stunned me to realize how many towns fit Loewen's definition of a sundown town, and also just how recently many of them have had only white residents (or a tiny number of minority residents.) Loewen thoroughly documents the history and effects of this kind of racial segregation. This book is long, and while very straightforward, it's not a quick read. But it's well-organized, and I think the many examples of racist policies, actions, and attitudes in these towns effectively convey the pervasiveness of this problem.
cortneyj92's review against another edition
5.0
While it's written more academically than his other books, Loewen still writes with accessibility and clarity. The book is a thorough analysis of the specific policies and practices that led to "Sundown Towns" in the United States.
It's greatest success, in my opinion, lies in its blunt postulation that these racially-exclusive towns (sometimes wrongfully termed as de facto) were creations by white human behaviors, white government policies (some codified, some verbal), and then continued white deniability when racism was no longer "publicly acceptable".
Loewen ends his work with recommended remedies to the still largely segregated United States. He admits in their lacking, nevertheless there is a provocation of thought, "What can I do?". I recommend this book to everyone. It's essential knowledge.
It's greatest success, in my opinion, lies in its blunt postulation that these racially-exclusive towns (sometimes wrongfully termed as de facto) were creations by white human behaviors, white government policies (some codified, some verbal), and then continued white deniability when racism was no longer "publicly acceptable".
Loewen ends his work with recommended remedies to the still largely segregated United States. He admits in their lacking, nevertheless there is a provocation of thought, "What can I do?". I recommend this book to everyone. It's essential knowledge.
kemilyh1988's review against another edition
I DNF on page 100. Very interesting but reads too much like a textbook for me to keep going.