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Built from the Fire
- The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street; One Hundred Years in the Neighborhood That Refused to Be Erased
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
A multigenerational saga of a family and a community in Tulsa’s Greenwood district, known as “Black Wall Street,” that in one century survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, urban renewal, and gentrification
“Ambitious . . . absorbing . . . By the end of Luckerson’s outstanding book, the idea of building something new from the ashes of what has been destroyed becomes comprehensible, even hopeful.”—Marcia Chatelain, The New York Times
WINNER: The Dayton Literary Peace Prize; The MAAH Stone Book Award; The SABEW Best in Business Book Award; The Lillian Smith Book Award; The Oklahoma Historical Society’s E. E. Dale Award
FINALIST: The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
When Ed Goodwin moved with his parents to the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his family joined a community soon to become the center of black life in the West. But just a few years later, on May 31, 1921, the teenaged Ed hid in a bathtub as a white mob descended on his neighborhood, laying waste to thirty-five blocks and murdering as many as three hundred people in one of the worst acts of racist violence in U.S. history.
The Goodwins and their neighbors soon rebuilt the district into “a Mecca,” in Ed’s words, where nightlife thrived and small businesses flourished. Ed bought a newspaper to chronicle Greenwood’s resurgence and battles against white bigotry, and his son Jim, an attorney, embodied the family’s hopes for the civil rights movement. But by the 1970s urban renewal policies had nearly emptied the neighborhood. Today the newspaper remains, and Ed’s granddaughter Regina represents the neighborhood in the Oklahoma state legislature, working alongside a new generation of local activists to revive it once again.
In Built from the Fire, journalist Victor Luckerson tells the true story behind a potent national symbol of success and solidarity and weaves an epic tale about a neighborhood that refused, more than once, to be erased.
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Critic reviews
“Exceptional . . . Luckerson’s thoroughly researched and empathetically written account—anchored in the complex experiences of the Greenwood residents themselves—gives voice to a powerful, exquisitely multifaceted community that refuses to be silenced.”—The Washington Post
“Cinematic . . . Built from the Fire offers a case study of how present-day Greenwood, and dozens of other struggling Black communities, got here. Luckerson reserves his final chapters for green shoots of hope.”—The Star Tribune
“The scope, the elegance, and the power of Luckerson’s tale is simply breathtaking and empowering.”—Carol Anderson, author of White Rage
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- Unabridged
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Los Angeles in the '60s was a hotbed of political and social upheaval. The city was a launchpad for Black Power - where Malcolm X and Angela Davis first came to prominence and the Watts uprising shook the nation. The city was home to the Chicano Blowouts and Chicano Moratorium, as well as being the birthplace of “Asian American” as a political identity. It was a locus of the antiwar movement, gay liberation movement, and women’s movement, and, of course, the capital of California counterculture.
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An amazingly comprehensive story of a critical decade.
- By Manifesta on 11-29-20
By: Mike Davis, and others
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Black Detroit
- A People's History of Self-Determination
- By: Herb Boyd
- Narrated by: James Shippy
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of Baldwin's Harlem looks at the evolving culture, politics, economics, and spiritual life of Detroit - a blend of memoir, love letter, history, and clear-eyed reportage that explores the city's past, present, and future and its significance to the African American legacy and the nation's fabric.
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Selective Recall
- By Rick on 07-19-17
By: Herb Boyd
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Stealing Home
- Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between
- By: Eric Nusbaum
- Narrated by: David Owen Nelson
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Dodger Stadium is an American icon. But the story of how it came to be goes far beyond baseball. The hills that cradle the stadium were once home to three vibrant Mexican American communities. In the early 1950s, those communities were condemned to make way for a utopian public housing project. Then, in a remarkable turn, public housing in the city was defeated amidst a Red Scare conspiracy.
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Once Upon a Time at Dodger Stadium
- By James Gamble on 03-06-21
By: Eric Nusbaum
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Soul City
- Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia
- By: Thomas Healy
- Narrated by: Larry Herron
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Thomas Healy resurrects a forgotten saga of race, capitalism, and the struggle for equality in this fascinating, forgotten story of the 1970s attempt to build a city dedicated to racial equality in the heart of “Klan Country”.
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awesome narrator
- By Arthur F. Jackson on 06-23-21
By: Thomas Healy
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A Mighty Long Way
- My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
- By: Carlotta Walls Lanier
- Narrated by: Peter Fernandez, Lizan Mitchell
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1951, Carlotta Walls Lanier was one of the nine African-American students to integrate Little Rock High School, and the first to earn a diploma. Here she provides a firsthand account of her experiences - including the bombing that rocked her home, the constant threats she and her classmates faced, and the pressure and bullying her parents endured.
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Very insightful book
- By karen feek on 01-05-21
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Tulsa 1921
- Reporting a Massacre
- By: Randy Krehbiel
- Narrated by: Kevin Meyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1921, Tulsa’s Greenwood District - known then as the nation’s “Black Wall Street” - was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States. But on May 31 of that year, a white mob, inflamed by rumors that a young black man had attempted to rape a white teenage girl, invaded Greenwood. By the end of the following day, thousands of homes and businesses lay in ashes, and perhaps, as many as 300 people were dead.
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Exceptional and
- By Heath on 03-07-20
By: Randy Krehbiel
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His Truth Is Marching On
- John Lewis and the Power of Hope
- By: Jon Meacham, John Lewis - afterword
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Jon Meacham
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
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An intimate and revealing portrait of civil rights icon and longtime US congressman John Lewis, linking his life to the painful quest for justice in America from the 1950s to the present - from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Soul of America.
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Absolutely remarkable!
- By Janie on 08-30-20
By: Jon Meacham, and others
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The Defender
- How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America; from the Age of the Pullman Porters to the Age of Obama
- By: Ethan Michaeli
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 22 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Giving voice to the voiceless, the Chicago Defender condemned Jim Crow, catalyzed the Great Migration, and focused the electoral power of black America. Robert S. Abbott founded the Defender in 1905, smuggled hundreds of thousands of copies into the most isolated communities in the segregated South, and was dubbed a "Modern Moses", becoming one of the first black millionaires in the process.
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There's an unexpected genius here
- By Porter on 01-19-19
By: Ethan Michaeli
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Self Made
- Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker
- By: A'Lelia Bundles
- Narrated by: A'Lelia Bundles
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The daughter of slaves, Madam C.J. Walker was orphaned at seven, married at 14, and widowed at 20. She spent the better part of the next two decades laboring as a washerwoman for $1.50 a week. Then - with the discovery of a revolutionary hair care formula for Black women - everything changed. By her death in 1919, Walker managed to overcome astonishing odds: Building a storied beauty empire from the ground up that would be run by four generations of Walker women until its sale in 1985.
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Please read the book and not rely on the Netflix series
- By Sweet Pea's Mommy on 04-27-20
By: A'Lelia Bundles
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The Burning
- Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
- By: Tim Madigan
- Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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On the morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob numbering in the thousands marched across the railroad tracks dividing black from white in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and obliterated a black community then celebrated as one of America's most prosperous. The Burning will recreate the town of Greenwood at the height of its prosperity, explore the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between its black residents and neighboring Tulsa's white population, narrate events leading up to and including Greenwood's annihilation, and document the subsequent silence that surrounded the tragedy.
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Hard to listen to, but a must read.
- By Amazon Customer on 06-17-20
By: Tim Madigan
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Once in a Great City
- A Detroit Story
- By: David Maraniss
- Narrated by: David Maraniss
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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It's 1963, and Detroit is on top of the world. The city's leaders are among the most visionary in America. It was the American auto makers' best year; the revolution in music and politics was underway. Walter Reuther's UAW had helped lift the middle class. Once in a Great City shows that the shadows of collapse were evident even then. Yet so much of what Detroit gave America lasts.
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Great read
- By Jordanel on 01-02-16
By: David Maraniss
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Harlem
- The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America
- By: Jonathan Gill
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 19 hrs and 24 mins
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Harlem is perhaps the most famous, iconic neighborhood in the United States. A bastion of freedom and the capital of black America, Harlem's 20th-century renaissance changed our arts, culture, and politics forever. But this is only one of the many chapters in a wonderfully rich and varied history. In Harlem, historian Jonathan Gill presents the first complete chronicle of this remarkable place.
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Very Interesting.
- By Joyce Mirowski on 06-05-20
By: Jonathan Gill
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Eyes on the Prize
- America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965
- By: Juan Williams, Julian Bond - introduction
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
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From leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., to lesser-known figures such as Barbara Rose Johns and Jim Zwerg, each man and woman made the decision that something had to be done to stop discrimination. These moving accounts of the first decade of the civil rights movement are a tribute to the people, black and white, who took part in the fight for justice and the struggle they endured.
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This is a must in every household.
- By victor mercer on 07-12-19
By: Juan Williams, and others
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What listeners say about Built from the Fire
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rachael Roach
- 05-30-24
Powerful & incredibly well researched history
As a Tulsa area transplant, I now know more about Greenwood and Black Wall Street than probably 95% of the native Tulsans. This book is a treasure trove of fascinating stories of real families and their struggles for Justice that continues to this day. It rightfully left me sad and unsettled yet determined to get more involved in the local efforts to improve the lives in North Tulsa and the massacre descendants.
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- Craig C.
- 09-09-23
Excellent connecting the past to the present
The author does an excellent job describing how violent historical events can change trends in one direction with long term lingering consequences. The consequences have profound impact upon individuals and communities. One wonders what would happen if Oklahoma and Tulsa paid reparations to families. The amount of money is not that great, but the symbolism would bring hope and a lift to many who need to move on past this continuing injustice.
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- kerri c davis
- 02-01-24
Historic relevance
Insightfully rich history, more often uplifting than tragic, about the times before and after the Tulsa massacre.
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- Peter Riley
- 07-24-23
Brilliant and Moving
NOT just the infamous massacre but the whole history of Tulsa’s Greenwood district and its Black Wall Street. Mr. Luckerson uses Greenwood as a lens to examine not just effects of the massacre but subsequent government programs that further tore at the fabric of black life in Tulsa. Consequently you have a wonderful look at the dynamic and vibrant growth of this prosperous black business district in the early part of the century, its utter destruction in 1921 and then the struggles that followed. These included the lack of any reparations for the massacre itself, redlining, being excluded from beneficial New Deal programs, neighborhood busting highways and urban renewal. A great story of family’s and their seemingly endless hope and perseverance.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Sustainability Man
- 12-19-23
Drawing hope from the ashes of tragedy
It is impossible to fully understand American history without grappling with the violent extremes to which racism has driven some and the incredible hurdles and traumas that others have had to fight their way through in order to survive and prosper. This engaging book is about both.
I know, being Jewish, that historical trauma is a real thing with consequences that extend across generations in ways that it is really hard for those who don’t have such trauma in their psyches to comprehend. This book is about the before, during and after of the Greenwood massacre, an event so senseless and incredible that it is frankly hard to believe such a thing could happen in America.
But it’s not a downer - the massacre takes up about two chapters preceded by the incredible story of black people freed from slavery just 50 years past building their own very business-oriented community. Many chapters follow afterward about the people of Greenwood rebuilding their legacy after having everything stolen away from them.
Though the book is a bit long, I was never bored by this narrative of the life of the black middle class anchored by the incredible Williams family and the newspaper they kept grounded in the community for a century.
Great narrator, BTW - with a flat tone like you’d expect from the storyteller of an old fashioned detective show but with appropriately dramatic intonation when portraying the characters. You really get to see life as they have lived it.
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- John B Hammontree
- 06-23-23
Incredibly rich and detailed storytelling about an important part of American history
Victor Luckerson’s “Built from the Fire” is a breathtaking work that calls to mind the deep research and storytelling of writers like Isabel Wilkerson and Robert Caro. You may think you know the story of Black Wall St. but Luckerson reveals there’s so much more to this story than we’ve been told. It’s essential reading.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-19-23
Profound. Thorough. Compelling. Salient.
This story is a microcosm of the reason why our cities are still defined by such drastic spatial inequities. Greenwood, and other historically Black neighborhoods, weren’t just the victims of one tragic event but generations of harm and disinvestment. We need this story.
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