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A review by rrickman33
Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City by Wes Moore, Erica L. Green
4.0
This book is about five unforgettable days of protests and riots in Baltimore after the murder of Freddie Gray by Baltimore police. Told through the stories of 8 different individuals living in Baltimore from April 25th-29th 2015. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about their lives and the story of the 5 days through them. The book ended with an epilogue of where did they all end up, and an Author’s Note written in 2020 of what can be done to change our country for the better.
To quote Wes Moore from the book directly, “This book is about more than Freddie Gray’s death and its aftermath. This book is about more than Baltimore. It’s about privilege, history, entitlement, greed, and pain. And complicity. Mine. All of ours.”
The Author’s Note was probably my favorite part of the book where Moore discusses poverty, housing, income inequality, lead poisoning in toddlers, and more. Where should we start to fix our country? Right there. “It’s our time to use our individual voices, power, will, and privilege to address economic injustice. To fight for those who have been consistently left out.”
I learned a great deal from this book and the only reason it’s a 4 star from me is because of how it was organized. Not only is it divided up by the 5 days but the chapters from the 8 people are random. Not every person has a chapter for every day, sometimes it would switch back and forth quickly between people in the day and I got very confused. I lost track of who was who multiple times. With a bit more organization to help readers this really would be such a phenomenal book with a powerful message.
To quote Wes Moore from the book directly, “This book is about more than Freddie Gray’s death and its aftermath. This book is about more than Baltimore. It’s about privilege, history, entitlement, greed, and pain. And complicity. Mine. All of ours.”
The Author’s Note was probably my favorite part of the book where Moore discusses poverty, housing, income inequality, lead poisoning in toddlers, and more. Where should we start to fix our country? Right there. “It’s our time to use our individual voices, power, will, and privilege to address economic injustice. To fight for those who have been consistently left out.”
I learned a great deal from this book and the only reason it’s a 4 star from me is because of how it was organized. Not only is it divided up by the 5 days but the chapters from the 8 people are random. Not every person has a chapter for every day, sometimes it would switch back and forth quickly between people in the day and I got very confused. I lost track of who was who multiple times. With a bit more organization to help readers this really would be such a phenomenal book with a powerful message.