A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History

Praised by The New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Bitch Magazine; Slate;Publishers Weekly; and more, this is a bracing corrective to a national mythology (New York Times) around the civil rights movement.

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.