Riot and Remembrance

Before Rodney King, before the riots in Cincinnati, before Newark and Detroit and Watts, there was the Tulsa race war. On May 30, 1921, a misunderstanding between a white elevator operator and a black delivery boy escalated into the worst race riot in U.S. history. In this compelling and deeply human account, James Hirsch investigates how it erupted, how it was covered up, and how the survivors and their descendants are fighting for belated justice. "Superbly researched and engagingly written" (Fort Worth Morning Star), Riot and Remembrance powerfully chronicles one community's effort to overcome a horrific legacy, revealing how the segregation of history and memory affects all Americans.

James S. Hirsch, a former reporter for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, is the author of Cheating Destiny, the bestseller Hurricane: The Miracle Journey of Rubin Carter, Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy, and Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship That Saved Two POWs in Vietnam. He is also a principal of Close Concerns, a consultancy and publishing company that specializes in diabetes. He lives in the Boston area with his wife, Sheryl, and their children, Amanda and Garrett.