William M. Tuttle, Jr.: Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919

Scary. How deep racism is. There is more to it of course. The historical context cannot be discarded. The red scare at its height was both generated top-down by politicians and officials, but it also found a fertile ground in the impoverished nation where the struggle for the essentials was hard. Factors like the urbanization and mass migration of African-Americans into the city also steered the tension. The differences between well-integrated African-Americans and the new comers, the heat itself, union politics, the atmosphere of fear, these are all elements of the picture drawn in this book. Women were missing though from this book. People of other color also. And the way he talks about race acknowledges the validity of this social construct as opposed discrediting it. But as a history book goes its engaging and incisive enough on its subject matter.

• @Amazon