A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History

In the streets of Montgomery and the halls of Washington, D.C., award-winning historian Jeanne Theoharis shatters the soothing legend of a “gentle” Civil Rights Movement to reveal a pulse of unapologetic rebellion and unsung heroes—women like Ella Baker organizing in church basements, student activists testing segregation on Freedom Rides, and fierce voices beyond Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. By tracing the raw dynamism of 1960s Freedom Summer, the relentless campaigns in Birmingham, and the mass marches that rattled the White House, she immerses readers in a movement that was deeply unpopular, deeply disruptive, and yet resolutely driven by a vision of Racial Justice, Political Justice, and Education Equity. Theoharis’s expansive narrative paints white-draped Southern courthouses and podiums pulsing with defiance, where “polite racism” was exposed under spotlight and local newspapers joined forces to demonize “rebels.” With bracing clarity and quiet moral fire, she argues that understanding the movement’s full scope—its grassroots leaders, its fierce sit-ins, its young activists hauled into prison—provides the only firm foundation for the unfinished work of justice today. Tap the Save to List button to bookmark this title, or tap the External Link button to view purchase and rental options.