Our 2002 edition of Letters from Mississippi has become a staple in studies of the civil rights movement. (The original publication of 1965 recorded the letters of the volunteers in the Mississippi Summer Voting Project of 1964 – Freedom Summer – and went out of print in 1970.) This 50th anniversary edition includes: expanded biographical notes from the 2007 edition, additional biographies of contributors to the original book, expanded notes and a filmography. The result is a wider resource for scholarship as well as for a general understanding of this critical moment in civil rights history.

The book will dovetail with the publicity about Freedom Summer’s 50th anniverary. HBO is doing a major documentary about Freedom Summer (airing in June), for which Zephyr has been a consultant. We will market the book through ads, special mailings, galley box, at 50th anniversary events and conferences. We will issue the book as an e-book for the first time.