Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Morningside:
Bet you can’t guess the ending.
Quick synopsis:
The story of the 1979 Greensboro, N.C. massacre.
Fact for Non-History People:
Greensboro is named after Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene.
Fact for History Nerds:
James Gardner was a N.C. congressman around this time along with being a co-founder of the Hardee’s restaurant chain.
My Take on Morningside:
Have you ever watched a movie which you were enjoying, but you also found yourself at times wishing certain sections would speed up? I felt that way a bit with Aran Shetterly’s Morningside. I thoroughly enjoyed portions of the book, and it is overall very well done, but I also found myself at certain points thinking, “Can we please get back to the actual Greensboro case?”
Morningside tells the story of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre where a bunch of Nazis and KKK members attacked a procession of protestors. The protestors were pegged as purely communists, which is not a lie but also overly simplistic so I will instead call them “protestors”. There is a lot to unpack including the roles of the Greensboro police, the FBI, and assorted informants.
There is enough in this story for about 20 books which is where I had some issues as a reader. Shetterly’s narrative is strongest when he is talking about the massacre and aftermath. I was less enthralled when the story dug deeper into various historical facets for extended periods of time. For example, the section on Greensboro’s namesake, Nathanael Greene of the American Revolution, felt clumsy and extraneous. However, the section on Nelson Johnson’s family is very good and made me feel much closer to the material.
The book’s organization made this a bigger issue than it needed to be. Part I, III, and IV deal more directly with the massacre while Part II is 150 pages long and has a lot of background. As mentioned, the Johnson family history is a standout portion where others felt overdone. 150 pages out of 400 really breaks up the flow.
All that said, the great in here outweighs any criticisms. There are some huge surprises at the end which I won’t spoil here. However, there is some light at the end of this tunnel.
(This book was provided as a review copy by the publisher.)
Verdict:
Imperfect but still good history. Buy it here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.