A More Beautiful and Terrible History Audiobook by Jeanne Theoharis

https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/audiobook/38/ to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: A More Beautiful and Terrible History Subtitle: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History Author: Jeanne Theoharis Narrator: Kim Staunton Format: Unabridged Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins Language: English Release date: 01-30-18 Publisher: Beacon Press Genres: History, 20th Century Publisher's Summary: 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 mythmaking, teasing apart the accepted stories to show them in a strikingly different light. We see Rosa Parks as not simply a bus lady but a lifelong criminal justice activist and radical; Martin Luther King Jr. as challenging not only Southern sheriffs but Northern liberals, too; and Coretta Scott King as not only 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. Critic Reviews: "Theoharis's lucid and insightful study...proffer[s] a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the civil rights movement's legacy, and showing how much remains to be done." ( Publishers Weekly) "An important illustration of the ways that history is used, or misused, in modern social and political life. Required reading for anyone hoping to understand more about race relations and racism in the United States and highly recommended for all readers interested in 20th-century American history." ( Library Journal) "A hard-hitting revisionist history of civil rights activism.... An impassioned call for continued efforts for change." ( Kirkus Reviews)