{"product_id":"like-a-holy-crusade-mississippi-1964-the-turning-of-the-civil-rights-movement-in-america-9781566630269","title":"Like a Holy Crusade: Mississippi 1964 -- The","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe year 1964 produced a watershed in American race relations. In one of the civil rights movement's most dramatic initiatives, thousands of Northern white college students were recruited to come south that summer in an effort to \"break\" Mississippi and secure voting rights for its black citizens. Nicolaus Mills traces the history of this Summer Project, including its origins and aftermath, and shows in detail how its consequences involved not only great victories but also violence (the murders of Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman, among other events) and disillusion. His persuasive argument is that the noble quest for racial solidarity turned bitter and divisive in practice, climaxed by the Democratic party's rejection of the Mississippi Freedom Democrats at the 1964 national convention. In the rush of black anger that followed, the gains of the summer were forgotten and Black Power was born—and blacks went their separate way in trying to achieve equality in America. Relations between whites and blacks took a crucial turning which continues powerfully to influence our politics and social well-being today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike a romance novel of the 'had I but known' variety, this overview of the development, operation, and aftermath of the Mississippi Summer Project in 1964 is a 'had they but known' history. Mills...declares his purpose ('to see what meaning the Summer Project has for us at a time when conservatives and liberals seem united in their gloom about race relations') and his conviction that 'the real tragedy of the Mississippi SUmmer Project is not that it failed but that so many of its participants gave up on it before its triumphs became clear.' As they planned for the movement of 1,000 white, northern college students to Mississippi; trained volunteers; coped with the sudden disappearance of Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner; set up Freedom Schools, voter registration programs, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party; and evaluated the project's effectiveness, the SNCC members who staffed it were driven by events. With the benefit of hindsight, they (and the volunteers, and even the Democratic Party)might have made some decisions differently. A thoughtful and fascinating addition to larger 1960s and race relations collections. * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003eMills has written a readable, compelling account of Mississippi Freedom Summer. He argues convincingly that the summer of 1964 was a turning point in the Civil Rights movement in two senses. First, the combination of interracial cooperation and white violence helped speed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and create widespread Northern support for the movement. Secondly, and ironically, the Democratic Party's failure to fully seat black Mississippi delegates at the 1964 convention confirmed and exacerbated many black civil rights workers' suspicions of whites. This marked the real beginning of a split between white liberals and black activists. Still, the coalition between blacks and whites that summer serves as an example of racial common ground. An excellent work; highly recommended for all libraries. * Library Journal *\u003cbr\u003eMills has shunned the comfort of the myth and reminded us that the struggle was terrifying, ugly, magnificent and confusing...a moving account. * Chicago Tribune *\u003cbr\u003eExtremely readable and fair-minded. * The New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eMills traces the history of the Mississippi Summer PRoject of 1964, from its origins to its aftermath, and shows in detail how its consequences involved not only great victories but also violence. . .and disillusion. * Reference and Research Book News *\u003cbr\u003eMills tells the story of a pivotal time in the Civil Rights Movement, the Mississippi Summer Project where blacks and whites together risked their lives in order to force the issue of equal civil rights. Mills tells this courageous story so we will not forget what important gains were won with such cooperation. Trade, recent history, civil rights, libraries. Rating: Fine. * Reader's Review *\u003cbr\u003eA stirring and saddening book...Mills has given us a usable model for heroism. -- Samuel G. Freedman * Newsday *\u003cbr\u003eA clear and marvelously evocative account of one of modern America's most courageous and inspiring undertakings. -- David J. Garrow\u003cbr\u003eA strong and vivid account...in these pages, history comes alive...a very fine book. -- Irving Howe\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePart 1 Acknowledgements  9 Part 2 Introduction: Like a Holy Crusade  15 Part 3 Burn Jim Crow to the Ground  27 Part 4 Tremor in the Iceberg  42 Part 5 Nobody's Cannon Fodder  66 Part 6 Open the Eyes of the Nation  77 Part 7 There May Be More Deaths  94 Part 8 The Magnolia Jungle  105 Part 9 Pinto Beans and Politics  120 Part 10 No Two Seats  139 Part 11 Loose Ends  165 Part 12 Mississippi Revisited  184 Part 13 A Note on Sources  194 Part 14 Notes  196 Part 15 Index  217","brand":"Ivan R Dee, Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50515917242711,"sku":"9781566630269","price":13.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781566630269.jpg?v=1745428229","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/like-a-holy-crusade-mississippi-1964-the-turning-of-the-civil-rights-movement-in-america-9781566630269","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}