As the Civil War rages, another battle breaks out behind the lines. During a long hot July in 1863, the worst race riots the United States has ever seen erupt in New York City. Earlier that year, desperate for more Union soldiers, President Abraham Lincoln instituted a draft–a draft that would allow the wealthy to escape serving in the army by paying a $300 waiver, more than a year’s income for the recent immigrant Irish. And on July 11, as the first drawing takes place in Lower Manhattan, the city of New York explodes in rage and fire. Stores are looted; buildings, including the Colored Foundling Home, are burned down; and black Americans are attacked, beaten, and murdered. The police cannot hold out against the rioters, and finally, battle-hardened soldiers are ordered back from the fields of Gettysburg to put down the insurrection, which they do–brutally. Fifteen-year-old Claire, the beloved daughter of a black father and Irish mother, finds herself torn between the two warring sides. Faced with the breakdown of the city–the home–she has loved, Claire must discover the strength and resilience to address the new world in which she finds herself, and to begin the hard journey of remaking herself and her identity. Addressing such issues as race, bigotry, and class head-on, Walter Dean Myers has written another stirring and exciting novel that will shake up assumptions, and lift the spirit. From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews with the most likes.
On the topic of the Civil War, many people know about the war between the South and the North, at little else. The scope of the Civil War, both its feelings and underlying causes, are far greater than one may initially realize. The idea that the war was fought to end slavery may have been the goal at it's end, but it certainly was not the initial goal. Initially, many people volunteered in order to preserve the Union of the United States, with many people believing that secession amounted to treason. Yet, the war, as it is with any conflict, cannot be generalized so. Although there are many people who believe that the North was a shining Utopia of freedom for former slaves, nothing could be farther from the truth. There were many different people who were just as racist as there brothers to the south, and often enacted policies and political views that perpetuated racist ideals well into the 20th century.
It is with this in mind that we come into the screenplay Riot by Walter Dean Myers. When I looked at this book on Goodreads, I was surprised to find that this book had a 3.2 rating average (For the record, about 4.0 is average for most books on Goodreads) ! This is because that Myers manages to do what all great historical fiction does: take the wider events of a historical time period and narrow it down to the microcosm of a family or individual. It is an excellently done book about how racist ideas can spread and cause violence, even in the midst of fighting for freedom. This book also can be used to explore the different ideas of supply and demand in economics, with the irish immigrants living in already squalor and poverty fighting for the few jobs available, worried about the freed African Americans coming to work for even lower wages. In short this book is an excellent example of that, and it shouldn't be discounted because of it.
I will say that I did listen to this as a stage play with a full cast, so I would recommend that that be how one reads this text. It was excellently done, and I think that is superior over a simple paperback form.
In any case, I would say that this book should not be missed, and is vastly underrated. I give it a five out of five!
Books
7 booksIf you enjoyed this book, then our algorithm says you may also enjoy these.
