A Nation on Fire: America in the Wake of the King Assassination (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: lady bird, one looter, riot zone, White House, National Guard, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Writer and editor Risen accounts for the lead-up to Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, and the waves of violence that swept the nation in its wake. Risen's work is eye-opening, emphasizing cagey analysis as well as a recreation of the atmosphere and events following King's brutal slaying. Unquestionably important, Risen's detailed narrative documents each riot individually, offering both statistics and accounts from witnesses and participants in the rioting, looting, and arson. Risen also documents President Johnson's personal struggle to maintain order in a wounded country that increasingly disapproved of him, and speeches made by Robert Kennedy and Stokely Carmichael which are believed to have quelled (at least temporarily) the violence. Perhaps more important than his acute historical knowledge is Risen's perspective on the causes of each riot and the emotional toll they took on the American public, which he correlates directly to subsequent loss of support for the civil rights movement. Debut author Risen, formerly of The New Republic and currently founding manager of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, has crafted a crucial addition to civil rights history, sure to absorb anyone interested in the times, the movement or MLK Jr. 16 b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Ian Shapira On April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, President Lyndon Johnson watched as smoke shrouded the nation's capital. Mobs, looters and arsonists were blanketing downtown Washington. They had Molotov cocktails; the police had gas canisters. Johnson had to make a decision fast: Should he order troops to quell the riots? In "A Nation on Fire," journalist Clay Risen recounts the tense conditions in several cities in the days after King's death. In Washington, Johnson decided to send troops in but only after a near debacle. First, the president deployed Warren Christopher, his deputy attorney general, and two other top officials, into the riot zone in an unmarked police car to give a recommendation. But they couldn't reach Johnson via police radio. So in the heart of the craziness, Christopher waited for a pay phone for what "must have felt like an hour," Risen reports. "Where have you been!" Johnson yelled when they finally connected; shortly thereafter, Risen writes, "Johnson cut him off. Fine, he said. We'll send in troops." Anecdotes like this one keep Risen's account of the 10 days before and after the King assassination moving fast. Still, despite Risen's use of newly declassified documents, much of the interesting material comes from coverage by The Washington Post that was compiled in the book "Ten Blocks from the White House." Nonetheless, Risen's city-by-city reconstruction of the riots, tucked into his larger analysis about the Civil Rights era, offers a useful evocation of those times.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (January 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470177101
• ISBN-13: 978-0470177105
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #663,817 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Historically Insightful and Exciting, January 16, 2009

By	The Big Crunch (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews

Clay Risen's A Nation On Fire is a detailed account of the events leading up to, and the immediate aftermath of, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Although this would seem to be a well-covered topic, Mr. Risen points out that prior to his book's release, this period has never been given an in-depth, book-length treatment, but instead has been described in brief, often as part of larger historical works on the era, the civil rights movement, or Dr. King. In discussing the need for a thorough and detailed look at these pivotal few weeks, Mr. Risen points out both the immediate impact this event had on the nation, as well as the profound and dynamic long-term impacts on domestic policy, social attitudes, and the reshaping of political fault lines - impacts that continue to be felt up to this very moment. In a larger sense, this book does an exceptional job of portraying a snapshop of the nation at a pivotal moment, and on a smaller scale, the impacts that Dr. King's assassination had on several major metro areas, with particular focus on the riots in D.C. For that reason alone, anyone who has spent some time in the District will find this book particularly interesting. The massive riots in D.C. and Baltimore have become something of an historical afterthought outside of D.C. (and some would argue in D.C. as well), but the impact of the riots was so great as to result in the unprecedented situation of the military being brought in to briefly occupy our nation's capital.

So, it's pretty obvious that anyone with an interest in the civil rights movement, the `60's, or just contemporary history and politics, will likely get a lot out of this book. However, I'd be remiss if I didn't stress just how compulsively readable this thing is - make no mistake, this is no dry history lesson or academic tracing of a timeline. Clay is an impressive writer, and the book quickly becomes an addictive page turner. The events leading up to the assassination create an air of tragic tension and the detailed coverage of the riots and the response reads like a first-rate thriller.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great storytelling, insightful history, January 14, 2009

By	L. Drutman (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Living in gentrified NW Washington, DC in 2009, it's hard to believe this city was on the verge of destruction 41 years ago. But that was 1968. MLK had been shot, and the atmosphere was electric. A Nation on Fire takes you there. The storytelling is masterful. The writing is dazzling in conveying what I can only imagine must have been the greasy tinderbox of racial tension coursing through the streets of Washington, and many other cities. But it's not just the story on the streets -- Risen also teases out some long-lasting political reverberations. Who knew that Spiro Agnew was catapulated onto the national scene by his post-riot performance in humiliating moderate black leaders in Baltimore and becoming the bulldog voice of the suburban white frustration? Anyway, highly recommended. Engaging stories, lasting insights.

5.0 out of 5 stars Grim, but important, August 31, 2009

By	Andre M. "brnn64" (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I have a picture of myself on Easter Sunday 1968 dressed up for church a few days after these events took place. At age four, I was just concerned about making an easter speech and playing with my cousins at my grandmother's house and watching the Flintstones. I had no clue what was going on around all this other than watching what I later learned to be Dr. King's funeral on TV while an aunt cried.

It was fortunate that I was far too young to grasp the full grimness surrounding me in my country at that time.

This book is a horrifying , but gripping account of the aftermath of Dr. King's killing. Lots of good interviews, personal recollections, and use of primary sources of the times. To say the country went nuts is a gross understatement. Many Blacks, embittered by the slow pace of Civil rights enforcement (something I experienced myself a few years later as a 70s child in South Carolina), erupted in the major cities and reactionary whites seized the moment. It is not hard to see why this is not being taught to today's students or is covered in detail in documentaries as no one on either side comes out looking particularly good in this horrible episode in US History (except for MLK and RFK's memory and the dignified grace of his immediate family).

A reading of this would give those concerned about the current national scene much pause. The racial situation is nowhere near as bad in Obama's America as it was in LBJ's day. The reactionary right, as ridiculous as they are in the current health care squabbles, are no comparison to the commentators of the time who encouraged whites to stock up arms against Black rioters and gut what civil rights legislation that had yet to be passed. Those who think Al Sharpton is a radical would be shocked to read what Stokely Carmichael and his followers were saying in angry reacion to MLK's murder. The current political controversies of today are 99% verbal. Back then people were fighting (and sometimes shooting) each other in the streets over political and racial division.

Read this to appreciate how far America has come since that time-and to prevent it from EVER going this route again.