This book is a searing indictment of reprehensible -- and often murderous -- racism in America from Mark Twain's Huck Finn on the Mississippi, to Emmett Till, killed in Mississippi in 1955, Medgar Evers killed in 1963, Malcolm X killed in 965, Martin Luther King Jr., killed in 1968, James Byrd Jr., killed in Texas in 1998 to Treyvon Martin killed in 2012. This is stark, unvarnished history. Highly important for understanding 20th century American culture.

"at the dangerous edge of social justice" is a searing indictment of reprehensible - and often -- murderous racism in America -- from Huck Finn and Nigger Jim on the Mississippi, to the murder of Emmett Till in in Mississippi, in 1955, the murder of Medgar Evers in 1963, Malcolm X in 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, James Byrd Jr., in Texas in 1998 and Trayvon Martin in 2012. Other chapters include pioneers who survived the Civil Rights years, such as Rosa Parks. This is stark, unvarnished history. Highly important for understanding 20th century American culture.

Thomas Fensch is the author or editor of 32 books of nonfiction, published in 44 yrars (since 1970). He has published books about John Steinbeck (5); Theodor "Dr, Seuss" Geisel (2); James Thurber (2); Oskar Schindler (1); Ernest Hemingway (1) and Fensch is the author of the only full-length biography of John Howard Griffin, who wrote the American classic "Black Like Me," and a variety of other nonfiction titles. Fensch has a doctorate from Syracuse University and lives outside Richmond, Va.