Description
Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1964, the turmoil of the civil rights movement reached its peak in Mississippi, with activists across the political spectrum claiming that God was on their side in the struggle over racial justice. This work takes us back to this place and time.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 1998 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion, University of Louisville and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary Co-Winner of the 1998 Towson University Prize for Literature "Original and uncommonly thoughtful... This is a comprehensive, imaginative, fair-minded and perceptive book, a significant contribution to our understanding of those men and women who fought those terrible wars in what seems so long ago but was, in fact, only yesterday."--Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World "With vivid description and chilling analysis, Marsh evokes the violence and oppression in the South of the civil-rights era... Many will find the results haunting... Marsh's work speaks directly to the development of our own moral lives."--Randy Frame, Christianity Today "Marsh's slice of history is imperative reading for understanding the religious foundations of social movements."--Publishers Weekly "Through Marsh's heartfelt and incisive chronicle, the turmoil and acrimony that were abundant in the U.S. more than three decades ago lend a revealing perspective to numerous current situations of racial and ethnic discord."--Nachman Spiegel, Jerusalem Post "A work of humane engagement and dispassionate scholarship."--John White, The Times Higher Education Supplement "The history and internal politics of the Civil Rights Movement and of the groups defending white-controlled segregation come alive in these detail-filled narratives."--Choice "Marsh describes the faulty logic and errant principles of most of the actors ... with compassion and remarkable restraint... He presents a fresh and inspiring story of faith in action and, perhaps, a view of God's hand in human history."--Gary Dorsey, Christian Century
Table of ContentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: With God on Our Side: Faiths in Conflict3Ch. 1"I'm on My Way, Praise God": Mrs. Hamer's Fight for Freedom10Ch. 2High Priest of the Anti-Civil Rights Movement: The Calling of Sam Bowers49Ch. 3Douglas Hudgins: Theologian of the Closed Society82Ch. 4Inside Agitator: Ed King's Church Visits116Ch. 5Cleveland Sellers and the River of No Return152Conclusion: Clearburning: Fragments of a Reconciling Faith192Afterword195Notes205Acknowledgments255Selected Bibliography259Interviews267Index269
