Medgar and Myrlie by Joy-Ann Reid

I first heard about MEDGAR AND MYRLIE by Joy-Ann Reid when I saw an interview with her on pbs NewsHour:

 

Reid, an MSNBC host, subtitles her text “Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America” and delves into his life and civil rights work as well as deeply into that of his wife, Myrlie, after Medgar’s assassination in June 1963. Medgar Evers was a soldier stationed in Europe during WWII. He came home to Mississippi where he later worked for the NAACP in an era when headline news dealt with the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, lunch counter sit-ins and retail boycotts, and integration of state college campuses. Reid argues that Evers’ activism “was the foundation on which later efforts by SNCC, CORE, and other organizations were built.” She conducted more than a half dozen interviews with Myrlie (who was NAACP National Chair in 1995) and also provides significant research – more than a fifth of the book is devoted to notes, bibliography, and an index. MEDGAR AND MYRLIE received a starred review from Booklist (“Reid’s spotlight shines brightest on the commitment the Everses made to the movement and to each other”). A love story involving Mississippi, America, and each other. Reid writes, “he pressed her to understand that he did his work because he loves her and their children.”