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A review by russk
The March Against Fear: The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights Movement and the Emergence of Black Power by Ann Bausum
5.0
I received this book for free from National Geographic as part of a goodreads giveaway.
I was excited to receive this book because it's a part of the Civil Rights Movement that I had never heard of before. Ann Bausum has experience writing about this era, having written two other books about the movement before. Her passion for the events comes through in her description of the narrative and her commentary in later chapters.
It's a great narrative too. James Meredith wants to walk from Memphis to Jackson to show the world he isn't afraid of his oppressors - and he gets shot for it. Then Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and hundreds more swoop in to pick up where he left off. It reveals the inner conflict within the Civil Rights Movement between different organizations and between the ideals of nonviolence and the controversial rise of black power. The story serves as a reminder that we sometimes look at heroic movements of the past with rose-colored glasses.
This book is targeted at students, but the violence and language in the book probably doesn't fit well for very young or immature children. I think it would make a great supplement to any Civil Rights unit in a middle school or high school classroom. I say supplement because it assumes readers already have basic knowledge of other events such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and MLK's marches in Washington and Selma.
One criticism that Bausum might be vulnerable to is that present-day politics definitely get injected into the story. Comments about confederate flags and monuments (while completely true) and a nod to Black Lives Matter are included with a present-day audience in mind. This is great for starting discussion, and the need for discussion about civil rights will unfortunately be relevant for years to come. However, it makes the book feel locked in the present and makes me wonder how immediate these issues will feel in 5-10 years time, especially for schools considering buying a class set.
I was excited to receive this book because it's a part of the Civil Rights Movement that I had never heard of before. Ann Bausum has experience writing about this era, having written two other books about the movement before. Her passion for the events comes through in her description of the narrative and her commentary in later chapters.
It's a great narrative too. James Meredith wants to walk from Memphis to Jackson to show the world he isn't afraid of his oppressors - and he gets shot for it. Then Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and hundreds more swoop in to pick up where he left off. It reveals the inner conflict within the Civil Rights Movement between different organizations and between the ideals of nonviolence and the controversial rise of black power. The story serves as a reminder that we sometimes look at heroic movements of the past with rose-colored glasses.
This book is targeted at students, but the violence and language in the book probably doesn't fit well for very young or immature children. I think it would make a great supplement to any Civil Rights unit in a middle school or high school classroom. I say supplement because it assumes readers already have basic knowledge of other events such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and MLK's marches in Washington and Selma.
One criticism that Bausum might be vulnerable to is that present-day politics definitely get injected into the story. Comments about confederate flags and monuments (while completely true) and a nod to Black Lives Matter are included with a present-day audience in mind. This is great for starting discussion, and the need for discussion about civil rights will unfortunately be relevant for years to come. However, it makes the book feel locked in the present and makes me wonder how immediate these issues will feel in 5-10 years time, especially for schools considering buying a class set.