Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.

Title: Freedom Summer

Subtitle: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy

Author: Bruce Watson

Narrator: David Drummond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-10-10

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 160 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In the summer of 1964, with the civil rights movement stalled, seven hundred college students descended on Mississippi to register black voters, teach in Freedom Schools, and live in sharecroppers' shacks. But by the time their first night in the state had ended, three volunteers were dead, black churches had burned, and America had a new definition of freedom. This remarkable chapter in American history, the basis for the controversial film Mississippi Burning, is now the subject of Bruce Watson's thoughtful and riveting historical narrative. Using in-depth interviews with participants and residents, Watson brilliantly captures the tottering legacy of Jim Crow in Mississippi and the chaos that brought such national figures as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Pete Seeger to the state. Freedom Summer presents finely rendered portraits of the courageous black citizens and Northern volunteers who refused to be intimidated in their struggle for justice, as well as the white Mississippians who would kill to protect a dying way of life. Few books have provided such an intimate look at race relations during the deadliest days of the civil rights movement.

©2010 Bruce Watson (P)2010 Tantor

Editorial Reviews:

In Freedom Summer, Bruce Watsons amazing attention to detail vividly brings to life the dramatic events that took place in Mississippi in 1964. Watsons account of the murder of three civil rights workers that summer and the ensuing aftermath told in David Drummonds deep, baritone voice makes for a very powerful listen. Thanks to numerous interviews with eyewitnesses to this striking moment in American history, Watson fills Freedom Summer with precise details like the midnight runs one civil rights worker would take to relieve his stress and the first terrifying night another spent half awake in her new office in Mississippi. Its these telling details that give the book a sweeping, novelistic quality.

Theres also a sense of immediacy that stems from Watsons precise writing and Drummonds performance. Drummond wisely takes a matter-of-fact approach to narrating the book. Theres no reason to add extra drama to Freedom Summer. What happened that year in Mississippi needs no embellishment.

Freedom Summer should be heard in every 20th-century American history class, as it zeros in on a specific time and place and reminds us exactly what happened so we will never forget this dramatic turning point in American history.

Critic Reviews:

"Bruce Watson captures, with skill and sensitivity, the drama of that historic summer in Mississippi.... This is the best account I have seen of Freedom Summer." (Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States)

Members Reviews:

The Long Hot Summer

A child of the 60s I approached this book with the impression that I knew most of what took place. Fortunately, I was wrong. This book revisits the summer of 1964 when 700 or so volunteers arrived to register voters in Mississippi. Familiar characteris of the era come alive through Bruce Watson's pen - LBJ, Stokely Carmichael and others. More importantly, a critical number of the 700 participants also come to life which is so interesting. If you think you know what took place and you fully understand the implications - look at this book again.