Requiem for the Massacre

A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year

"At its core, [Requiem For The Massacre] is a memoir that uses [Young's] coming to terms with the 1921 riot to reflect on his journey to understand what it means to be Black in the U.S. and in Tulsa, past and present. More than a personal story emerges from Young’s reflections and immersive journalism; he recreates Tulsa as a place where Black community networking succeeded enough to enrage whites to massacre and suppress that fact for generations . . . This beckons to readers willing to examine whether the centennial of the Tulsa Massacre reflected a reckoning and the substance of change, or was merely a spectacle of lip service." 

—Library Journal

“Requiem for the Massacre is at times overwhelmingly powerful—part exhumation of a horrific past, part exploration of a dangerous present that makes that horror feel not so past at all. RJ Young’s book is a profound examination that’s both historical and deeply personal. It’s an impressive feat—and an incredibly impressive one.” 

—Will Leitch, author of How Lucky

"This fierce book attacks the whole spectrum of racism — from genocide to gentrification — that has colored life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a century. Young is a curious and courageous local, and Requiem for the Massacre is his intense account of awakening to the lingering tentacles of the 1921 massacre and wrestling with how to help heal a city." 

—Ben Montgomery, author of A Shot in the Moonlight

"Essential reading for the next hundred years." 

—Emily Temple, Literary Hub

"RJ Young has written a deeply-researched history of the Tulsa massacre. He rescues an event that has already crossed over for many into myth, returning it to its human origins and reminding us of the toll of its historical afterlives. A foundational book for any student of Black history and Black liberation." 

—Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie