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

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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.

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.

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.

This is a pretty ripping story line. With some interesting figures spinning through the middle of it. A great mix of DC (which I guess you could call local) and national stories. Seeing the play the events had as an increasingly self-aware and existential LBJ wrestles with this late, legacy-concerned, stage of his presidency - a highlight for me. The ups and downs for Johnson and his loyal little cadre make great subplot. Also has perhaps the best on paper treatment of Stokely Carmichael I've yet to come across, but only one of many characters really living in this book. Makes clear the fascinating "cold race war," of which the riots are, I don't know, the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Name a video, book, or point to a line in a history text that documents what every person alive in 1968 remembers --terror, overnight loss of home equity, white flight out of all cities going from a trickle to a flood. Black areas that still had white store owners, who wanted to help the neighborhoods, were killed, wounded, or burned out. Only Spike Lee's movie Barbershop touches on the most far reaching catastrophe of any American century. After the riots, most African-American areas were shut off as dangerous and became wastelands, ripe for drugs, violent gangs and generational dependence through government entitlements. Older African-American areas (with no burned out white stores) were undamaged but they got the same label. Ski-rocketing insurance fees insured that little legal capitalism returned. Many good role models became repeat victims for drug addicts until they also moved to the suburbs. The slum's hopelessness of today was bought by all that stolen liquor and TV sets. Go to Detroit and tell me that I am wrong. How much of that city is in American's future? Our coasting on the America that (now dead) Americans built, is coming to a stop? Are we Rome yet?
Canada didn't have riots and is what we would have been without them--old mansion tours, safe neighborhoods, and government that isn't broke from trying to give poor people houses that they couldn't afford. Canadians can have healthcare programs that are not riddled with fraud. The riots were a turning point, after which, we started coasting towards financial and moral bankruptcy. We can not flush out illegal Mexicans without getting low income people back to the jobs that they used to have. Mexican don't get benefits so they find jobs and work?
Why is all of this unknown because it is not talked about? This author is the only person brave enough to tell the story of when America was mortally wounded in 1968.

A wonderfully written and researched piece of local and national history. Extremely important for our understanding of current urban gentrification, revitalization, and race relations.