A review by wordsmithreads
You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America by Paul Kix

4.0

While I found this very informational and written like a story, rather than some of the more personal nonfiction I've read that introduces the author as a sort of character as well, I found the pacing of this odd. The chapters seemed to all be different lengths and we are given so much information in the first chapter that slides right out of your brain because you aren't sure what's important to retain yet. I enjoyed but didn't love this. However, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about how the Civil Rights Act got passed (while that is not the focus of the book, it does speak about it near the end).