A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History
Written by Jeanne Theoharis
Narrated by Kim Staunton
5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Explodes the fables that have been created about the civil rights movement
The civil rights movement has become national legend, lauded by presidents from Reagan to Obama to Trump, as proof of the power of American democracy. This fable, featuring dreamy heroes and accidental heroines, has shuttered the movement firmly in the past, whitewashed the forces that stood in its way, and diminished its scope. And it is used perniciously in our own times to chastise present-day movements and obscure contemporary injustice.
In A More Beautiful and Terrible History award-winning historian Jeanne Theoharis dissects this national myth-making, teasing apart the accepted stories to show them in a strikingly different light. We see Rosa Parks not simply as a bus lady but a lifelong criminal justice activist and radical; Martin Luther King, Jr. as not only challenging Southern sheriffs but Northern liberals, too; and Coretta Scott King not only as a 'helpmate' but a lifelong economic justice and peace activist who pushed her husband's activism in these directions.
Moving from "the histories we get" to "the histories we need," Theoharis challenges nine key aspects of the fable to reveal the diversity of people, especially women and young people, who led the movement; the work and disruption it took; the role of the media and "polite racism" in maintaining injustice; and the immense barriers and repression activists faced. Theoharis makes us reckon with the fact that far from being acceptable, passive or unified, the civil rights movement was unpopular, disruptive, and courageously persevering. Activists embraced an expansive vision of justice--which a majority of Americans opposed and which the federal government feared.
By showing us the complex reality of the movement, the power of its organizing, and the beauty and scope of the vision, Theoharis proves that there was nothing natural or inevitable about the progress that occurred. A More Beautiful and Terrible History will change our historical frame, revealing the richness of our civil rights legacy, the uncomfortable mirror it holds to the nation, and the crucial work that remains to be done.
Related to A More Beautiful and Terrible History
Related audiobooks
American Fascism: How the GOP is Subverting Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUlysses S. Grant: The American Presidents Series: The 18th President, 1869-1877 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Age of Insurrection: The Radical Right's Assault on American Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Grift: The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Demagogue's Playbook: The Battle for American Democracy from the Founders to Trump Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Democracy in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Climbing the Rough Side of the Mountain: The extraordinary story of love, civil rights, and labor activism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattlefield America: The War on the American People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5RIP GOP: How the New America Is Dooming the Republicans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Forcing Justice: Violence and Nonviolence in Selected Texts by Thoreau and Gandhi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfter the Protests Are Heard: Enacting Civic Engagement and Social Transformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Realistic Blacktopia: Why We Must Unite To Fight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Politicians and the Egalitarians: The Hidden History of American Politics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Democracy by Petition: Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790-1870 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden History: An Exposé of Modern Crimes, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups in American Politics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProsecuting the President: How Special Prosecutors Hold Presidents Accountable and Protect the Rule of Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Democracy, If We Can Keep It: The ACLU's 100-Year Fight for Rights in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patriot Acts: What Americans Must Do to Save the Republic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaring to Struggle, Daring to Win: Five Decades of Resistance in Chicago's Uptown Community Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gradual: The Case for Incremental Change in a Radical Age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trump Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Living Through What You Hoped Would Never Happen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When They Come for You: How Police and Government Are Trampling Our Liberties - and How to Take Them Back Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
United States History For You
Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson And The Opening Of The American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Demon: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letter from Birmingham Jail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for A More Beautiful and Terrible History
3 ratings0 reviews