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A review by renatasnacks
The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 by Tim Madigan
3.0
I read this because both of my (older, white) parents read it and loved it and were so interested in this piece of history, and they wanted to talk to me about it. And I was like, oh yeah I watched HBO Watchmen, but, OK.
Anyway I think it is an interesting piece of history and where this book does its best is when it's talking about the climate leading up to the riot, as well as the lingering impact it's had on the survivors of that day. A lot of this history had been lost--literally burned. I was fascinated to read that the Oklahoma Historical Society offered a reward to anyone who could produce a copy of Richard Lloyd Jones' editorial that spurred on the riot. But apparently the text of that editorial is still lost to history.
Where this book faltered for me was its attempts to fill in lost history, with imagined dialogue from people who died or recreations of scenes that there obviously wasn't documentation for? Especially when he was recreating scenes from the POV of white folks who were using the n-word liberally. Like I mean, I'm sure they were, but then it was his choice to like...type the n-word into his book a bunch of times.
Still, clearly well-researched and did a great job of illuminating (so to speak) this moment in history. But you could probably just watch Watchmen instead tbh.
Anyway I think it is an interesting piece of history and where this book does its best is when it's talking about the climate leading up to the riot, as well as the lingering impact it's had on the survivors of that day. A lot of this history had been lost--literally burned. I was fascinated to read that the Oklahoma Historical Society offered a reward to anyone who could produce a copy of Richard Lloyd Jones' editorial that spurred on the riot. But apparently the text of that editorial is still lost to history.
Where this book faltered for me was its attempts to fill in lost history, with imagined dialogue from people who died or recreations of scenes that there obviously wasn't documentation for? Especially when he was recreating scenes from the POV of white folks who were using the n-word liberally. Like I mean, I'm sure they were, but then it was his choice to like...type the n-word into his book a bunch of times.
Still, clearly well-researched and did a great job of illuminating (so to speak) this moment in history. But you could probably just watch Watchmen instead tbh.