The Children

Starred review from March 2, 1998
This re-creation of the early days of the civil rights movement by Halberstam (The Fifties) is at once intimate and monumental. By focusing on a small group of young African Americans who attended the Reverend James Lawson's workshop for nonviolent demonstrators in Nashville in 1959, then went on to play active roles in the movement, he hits the high points of the civil rights struggle and makes them immediate: the Nashville sit-ins; the founding of SNCC and CORE; the Freedom Rides; Bull Connor's attacks in Birmingham; the Klan in Memphis; the first singing of "We Shall Overcome"; the voter registration campaign; Bloody Sunday in Selma; and the march to Montgomery. As the group moves out of Nashville and encounters others in the movement, the book expands with the complexity, but fortunately not the imposed tidiness, of a Victorian novel. While some of the young people's names are familiar (e.g., Marion Barry, John Lewis), most are not, but the portraits of them and the society they lived in and challenged is richly detailed. Halberstam examines the subtle frictions within the movement (middle-class vs. poor, lighter-skinned vs. darker, male vs. female), as well as the often violent struggle against segregationists. A number of brief, informative essays are sandwiched in: on the sociology of all-white Vanderbilt University; the eccentricities of the Nashville newspapers; a history of city politics in Washington, D.C.; the role of the Kennedy Justice Department. Martin Luther King Jr. plays a minor part in this history because the subject is indeed the "children"--the young adults in their late teens or early 20s in 1960, the early idealists who experienced violence in the streets and saw their movement itself turn segregationist (whites were forced out). The last third of the book follows the professional development of the children into adulthood: there was a congressman, a major, several doctors and college professors, a high school teacher and a political gadfly. This book need not have been as long as it is. But it is a masterful achievement in reporting, research and understanding. In a concluding author's note, Halberstam writes of his own experiences as a young reporter covering the civil rights beat. Photos not seen by PW.

Bestselling author Halberstam is one of those pop historians who embrace the "New Journalism"--having no pretense at impartiality, purporting knowledge of the thoughts of his subjects as well as the events, freely borrowing techniques of fiction to grab readers, but somehow indifferent to or incapable of good writing. Exemplifying these qualities, The Children recounts the true adventures of several pioneering youths during the early days of the 1960's civil rights movement. Joe Morton, the film actor, has a fine voice but not the training to use it well. One can hear him struggle against his own diction flaws. His phrasing is awkward, his cadences limited. Yet his commitment to his story and the moral principles behind it make for an engrossing listen. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Narrator Bahni Turpin narrates a heartrending and uplifting true story of the young men and women who changed the United States forever as they led the Civil Rights movement. Turpin's normally emotive voice is somber and steady as she guides listeners through horrific events ranging from beatings and jail time to surviving bombings. Through Halberstam's historical perspective listeners stay engaged and reflective as opposed to angry at the injustices. This audiobook is perfect for history lovers. Even reluctant high school students will listen to this and become totally engaged with one of the most important stories in American history. A.R.F. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine