I wish I could give a book a 4.5. This book is a concise and readable history of the rise of a new "civil rights movement" in the US in the 21st century. It was hard to read because I lived through it, and had to relive it here. It's clearly going to be most useful to people who perhaps were not news-aware during these years - maybe some millennials and GenZ folks, who only vaguely know what happened to Trayvon Martin or Freddie Gray. I never read Williams's first book or watched the series, because I'm a wimp, but I imagine that book would have served the same purpose for someone like me who was a child during the first civil rights era and who was fed slightly racist viewpoints by my conservative white parents. I can imagine that someone who really is steeped in the details would find quibbles with some of the condensation he had to do to fit within this framework. And I have to say as Williams eviscerated Trump on every issue, I kept asking myself, "What is this man doing as a Fox News commentator??"

He is sympathetic to the bind in which Obama found himself, as the focus of so many hopes, but at the same time committed to being everyone's president - he understands and explains Obama's choices but doesn't pretend they weren't disappointing to a lot of people. He is less sympathetic to Black Lives Matter (the organization, not the hashtag), seemingly laying a lot of responsibility for Hillary Clinton's 2016 loss at their door because they did not engage with electoral politics that year. This was despite figures like John Lewis and Al Sharpton making statements about their knowledge of her understanding of issues affecting black people. This isn't a book about the election, so I suppose I understand why he did not mention the similar role played by the Bernie Bros. As I see some voices declaring Harris is complicit in the destruction of Palestine, I fear a rerun. In general he is kind to the individuals who created Black Lives Matter, but unsparing in his view of how the organization turned out, while clearly understanding the viewpoints of the old guard of the 1950s and 60s civil rights movement who felt that getting elected and building political power was a goal worth pursuing.

The book ends before the surprise twist in 2024 that led to Kamala Harris being the democratic party nominee, which in a way is too bad because it is very relevant to the themes Williams pursues in the book, and maybe either prior to actual publication or in a second edition, he can write an afterword addressing the events of 2024 in electoral politics. In his conclusion, he suggests that the "second" civil rights movement has petered out and that whatever comes next will be a "third" one. This is a point at with which I believe some might quibble - unless you equate the second movement with BLM?

I would recommend this book to people like my kids, who were barely teenagers when Freddie Gray was killed and need an accessible way to gain a full understanding of what was going on in the US during the Obama/Trump/Biden years. Maybe it will end up on TV and they can also watch it.

Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I just finished New Prize For These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement, by Juan Williams.

The author explains why we are in a second Civil Rights Movement. The first was about breaking down segregation and then working to get more blacks into elected positions, to they could pass further legislation to protect civil rights. The second movement is about polite violence, reducing the number of blacks in prison and standing up to persistent daily racism and economic inequality. The author attributes the start of the second movement to Obama’s keynote speech at the 2004 convention.

Among the strongest parts of this book were discussions on Obama’s 2008 campaign, the Troy Davis case, the Trayvon Martin and other cases, Black Lives Matter, the terrible policies, and personnel of the Trump administration (including, but far from being limited to, the top of the administration).

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in civil rights, equality and the state of the nation.

I give this book an A. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

I finished reading this on August 24, 2024.

This book will be released on January 14, 2025. If there is also an audiobook version, I will be getting it so I can enjoy it again.