Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
In August 2017, over a thousand neo-Nazis, fascists, Klan members, and neo-Confederates descended on a small southern city to protest the pending removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Within an hour of their arrival, the city's historic downtown was a scene of bedlam as armored far right cadres battled activists in the streets. Before the weekend was over, a neo-Nazi had driven a car into a throng of counterprotesters, killing a young woman and injuring dozens.
Pulitzer Prize finalist Deborah Baker has written a riveting and panoptic account of what unfolded that weekend, focusing less on the rally's far right leaders than on the story of the city itself. University, local, and state officials, including law enforcement, were unable or unwilling to grasp the gathering threat. Clergy, activists, and organizers from all walks of life saw more clearly what was coming and, at great personal risk, worked to warn and defend their city.
To understand why their warnings fell on deaf ears, Baker does a deep dive into American history. In her research she discovers an uncannily similar event that took place decades before when an emissary of the poet and fascist Ezra Pound arrived in Charlottesville intending to start a race war. In Charlottesville , Baker shows how a city more associated with Thomas Jefferson than civil unrest became a flashpoint in a continuing struggle over our nation's founding myths.
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Pulitzer Prize finalist Baker (The Last Englishmen) delivers a gripping narrative that captures the tumultuous events of August 2017 in Charlottesville, VA, skillfully weaving a heart-stopping tale that humanizes the struggle against fascism. The literary quality is exceptional, with a narrative that expertly dramatizes historical events by focusing on the city's story rather than the rally's leaders. The text offers originality by delving into the city's history and role in America's ongoing struggle over founding myths, and the clear and engaging language makes complex historical contexts accessible to all readers. The design and format are well-executed, enhancing the narrative's impact. The subject is timely and timeless, resonating deeply with readers concerned about democracy and social justice. It provides a vivid account of how ordinary citizens fought for justice, making reading essential for anyone interested in contemporary America's social and political landscape. VERDICT This compelling work combines historical depth with vivid storytelling, making it invaluable for its intended audience.--Lawrence Mello
Publishers Weekly Review
In this captivating account, Pulitzer finalist Baker (The Last Englishman) brings a historian's insight to bear on a minute-by-minute report of the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., when white supremacists rioted against a city council vote to relocate a statue of Robert E. Lee. Baker begins by profiling Zyahna Bryant, a Black high school student whose school paper set in motion the series of events that led to the vote to remove the statue. Baker follows Bryant as she organizes protests and stands up to the neo-Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Mechanized Cavalry, so named "for their fondness for high end pickups." The group undertook a harassment campaign against Bryant that Baker points out merged old-school Southern racial intimidation with a new online style of attack forged during 2014's Gamergate. Later, Baker narrates the harrowing events of August 12 in exacting detail. As it progresses, her account becomes, fittingly, a description of battle: anti-fascists create a "corridor" in the crowd; advancing columns of Nationalist Front militia outflank members of the far-left Industrial Workers of the World with "furled flags and locked arms." Throughout, Baker offers historical context, from an analysis of the "Lost Cause" myth to a particularly fascinating tangent on John Kasper, a Greenwich Village bohemian turned vociferous segregationist who traveled to Charlottesville in the 1960s to oppose school integration, armed with speeches "all provided to him" by his mentor Ezra Pound. This brings history and current events into illuminating dialogue. (June)
Booklist Review
This stark account of the 2017 white supremacist "Unite the Right" rally seeks perspective but cannot shake deep feelings of dread. Baker (The Last Englishmen, 2018), who began her writing career as a literary biographer, animates her retelling of the infamous torch march and the violence that followed with the personal trajectories of key people involved. Having grown up in greater Charlottesville, Baker is especially interested in the "lonely prophets" who "had known something awful was going to happen" in her genteel, supposedly peaceful hometown. Profiling city officials, activists, and clergy, she is determined not to make this a book about alt-right agitators or racist thugs. But bigger questions can't be kept at bay. Why Charlottesville? Did the conflagration really begin as a dispute over Civil War monuments? Why did the region feature in the "fever dreams" of poet Ezra Pound and his circle of fascist sympathizers? Considering Charlottesville, are we looking into a mirror? An abyss? Answers are elusive, but Baker expertly limns prevailing anxieties. As she quotes one witness, "America is Charlottesville now."
Kirkus Book Review
In-depth history of the murderous white supremacist march on the Virginia city in 2017. "There is a direct path from the Unite the Right rally of August 12, 2017, to the Stop the Steal insurrection of January 6, 2021," writes native daughter Baker, who returned to her hometown after many years to explore that connection. The proximate cause of the rally, marked by polo-and-khaki-clad, mostly young men chanting against Jews, immigrants, and other perceived enemies, was the planned removal of a statue honoring Robert E. Lee--who, Baker sagely notes, never visited the city. The rally brought that white supremacist crowd, full of neo-Confederates and neo-Nazis, into the progressive home of the University of Virginia and a town with a Jewish mayor and large Black population. At the helm of the alt-right marchers was the supremely ambitious Richard Spencer, with a network of ex-military militia recruited from far afield--just like that Jan. 6 crowd. Charlottesville had long been a locus of racial enmity: As Baker notes, the Lee statue was a deliberate provocation. So, too, was the march, courtesy of the ACLU's contesting against a city-imposed ban on it. The result led to the book's concluding event: a young man "who kept a framed photograph of Hitler and a copy ofMein Kampf by his bedside" drove into a crowd, killed a woman named Heather Heyer, and injured many others. Populating her account with the likes of violence-bent if often inept men whom she dubs Swastika Pin, Tampa Realtor, Red Shirt, and the like--their real identities later exposed through careful investigation--Baker demonstrates the despicable falsity of Donald Trump's saying that there "were very fine people, on both sides"--and shows how coordinated resistance against white supremacists both can work and will be required again in the coming years. A vivid account that capably illuminates the evils half-hidden under a flickering torch. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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