Speak Now Against the Day - (Chapel Hill Books) by John Egerton (Paperback)

About the Book

cent Speak Now Against the Day. His book is a stunning achievement: a sprawling, engrossing, deeply moving account of those Southerners, black and white, who raised their voices to challenge the South's racial mores. . . . (This) is an eloquent and passionate book, and . . . one we cannot afford to forget".--Charles B. Dew, New York Times Book Review.

Book Synopsis

The compelling story of the earliest calls for desegregation and racial justice in the South.

"Make room on your library shelf . . . for John Egerton's magnificent Speak Now Against the Day. His book is a stunning achievement: a sprawling, engrossing, deeply moving account of those Southerners, black and white, who raised their voices to challenge the South's racial mores. . . . [This] is an eloquent and passionate book, and . . . one we cannot afford to forget." -- Charles B. Dew, New York Times Book Review

"A rich and inspiring story. . . . [Egerton] has uncovered a buried treasure." -- Studs Terkel

"[A] superb book, measured but eloquent." -- Dan T. Carter, Washington Post Book World

Review Quotes

"A gift to the nation [and a] . . . heartbreaking but heroic story." -- Louisville Courier-Journal

"A grand achievement." -- Raleigh News & Observer

"John Egerton has brilliantly uncovered the lost chapter of the civil rights movement. . . . Speak Now Against the Day will be the standard history of the early civil rights movement against which all others will be measured." -- Boston Globe

"No school, library or home is complete without a copy of this important, inspiring and highly readable narrative." -- Nashville Banner

"Superb. . . . [A] remarkable, monumental book." -- Cleveland Plain-Dealer

About the Author

John Egerton (1935-2013), an independent nonfiction writer, wrote extensively on his native South. He is author of more than a dozen books, including "The Americanization of Dixie" and "Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History."