Freedom Summer
The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy
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Narrated by:
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David Drummond
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By:
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Bruce Watson
About this listen
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Editorial reviews
In Freedom Summer, Bruce Watson’s amazing attention to detail vividly brings to life the dramatic events that took place in Mississippi in 1964. Watson’s account of the murder of three civil rights workers that summer and the ensuing aftermath told in David Drummond’s deep, baritone voice makes for a very powerful listen. Thanks to numerous interviews with eyewitnesses to this striking moment in American history, Watson fills Freedom Summer with precise details like the midnight runs one civil rights worker would take to relieve his stress and the first terrifying night another spent half awake in her new office in Mississippi. It’s these telling details that give the book a sweeping, novelistic quality.
There’s also a sense of immediacy that stems from Watson’s precise writing and Drummond’s performance. Drummond wisely takes a matter-of-fact approach to narrating the book. There’s no reason to add extra drama to Freedom Summer. What happened that year in Mississippi needs no embellishment.
Freedom Summer should be heard in every 20th-century American history class, as it zeros in on a specific time and place and reminds us exactly what happened so we will never forget this dramatic turning point in American history. Ken Ross
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Story
Season of the Witch is the first book to fully capture the dark magic of San Francisco in this breathtaking period, when the city radically changed itself - and then revolutionized the world. The cool gray city of love was the epicenter of the 1960s cultural revolution. But by the early 1970s, San Francisco’s ecstatic experiment came crashing down from its starry heights. The city was rocked by savage murder sprees, mysterious terror campaigns, political assassinations, street riots, and finally a terrifying sexual epidemic.
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Gripping, important history - well told
- By The Companion on 05-21-12
By: David Talbot
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The Blood of Emmett Till
- By: Timothy B. Tyson
- Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Mississippi, 1955: 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered by a white mob after making flirtatious remarks to a white woman, Carolyn Bryant. Till's attackers were never convicted, but his lynching became one of the most notorious hate crimes in American history. It launched protests across the country, helped the NAACP gain thousands of members, and inspired famous activists like Rosa Parks to stand up and fight for equal rights for the first time.
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Tough read. Rest in Peace Emmit. We are so sorry!
- By Melanie B on 09-16-18
By: Timothy B. Tyson
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A Mighty Long Way
- My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School
- By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, Lisa Frazier Page, Bill Clinton - foreword
- Narrated by: Carlotta Walls LaNier
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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When 14-year-old Carlotta Walls walked up the stairs of Little Rock Central High School on September 25, 1957, she and eight other Black students only wanted to make it to class. But the journey of the “Little Rock Nine”, as they came to be known, would lead the nation on an even longer and much more turbulent path, one that would challenge prevailing attitudes, break down barriers, and forever change the landscape of America.
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Disappointing
- By SWF in Minneapolis on 04-27-24
By: Carlotta Walls LaNier, and others
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The King Years
- Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement
- By: Taylor Branch
- Narrated by: Leslie Odom Jr.
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The essential moments of the civil rights movement are introduced and set in historical context by the author of the magisterial America in the King Years trilogy: Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire, and At Canaan's Edge. Taylor Branch's three-volume history endures as a masterpiece of storytelling on American race, violence, and democracy. With this brief volume, which brings to life the pivotal scenes, he relates the dramatic story of how the movement evolved from a bus strike to a political revolution, and brings this historic achievement to a wider audience.
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Excellent
- By MC on 01-18-15
By: Taylor Branch
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Hellhound on His Trail
- The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Hampton Sides
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man - whose real name was James Earl Ray -drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace's racist presidential campaign. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel.
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History Comes Alive
- By L. Lyter on 06-29-10
By: Hampton Sides
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Blood at the Root
- A Racial Cleansing in America
- By: Patrick Phillips
- Narrated by: Patrick Phillips
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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National Book Award finalist Patrick Phillips tells Forsyth's tragic story in vivid detail and traces its long history of racial violence all the way back to antebellum Georgia. Recalling his own childhood in the 1970s and '80s, Phillips sheds light on the communal crimes of his hometown and the violent means by which locals kept Forsyth all white well into the 1990s.
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when is white history month?
- By Bailey on 03-06-18
By: Patrick Phillips
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Parting the Waters
- America in the King Years 1954-63
- By: Taylor Branch
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Janina Edwards
- Length: 45 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Hailed as the most masterful story ever told of the American civil rights movement, Parting the Waters is destined to endure for generations. Moving from the fiery political baptism of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the corridors of Camelot where the Kennedy brothers weighed demands for justice against the deceptions of J. Edgar Hoover, here is a vivid tapestry of America, torn and finally transformed by a revolutionary struggle unequaled since the Civil War.
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Excellent
- By Judith Princz on 05-15-19
By: Taylor Branch
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Claudette Colvin
- Twice Toward Justice
- By: Phillip Hoose
- Narrated by: Channie Waites
- Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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On March 2, 1955, a slim, bespectacled teenager refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Mont-gomery, Alabama. Shouting "It's my constitutional right!" as police dragged her off to jail, Claudette Colvin decided she'd had enough of the Jim Crow segregation laws that had angered and puzzled her since she was a young child.
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The funny yet touching story of women leders!
- By Talia on 02-06-12
By: Phillip Hoose
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Kennedy and King
- The President, the Pastor, and the Battle over Civil Rights
- By: Steven Levingston
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 19 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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A New York Times Editors' Choice Pick. Kennedy and King traces the emergence of two of the 20th century's greatest leaders, their powerful impact on each other, and on the shape of the civil rights battle between 1960 and 1963. These two men from starkly different worlds profoundly influenced each other's personal development. Kennedy's hesitation on civil rights spurred King to greater acts of courage, and King inspired Kennedy to finally make a moral commitment to equality.
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Voices Too Much
- By drewdpeabody on 10-17-17
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While the World Watched
- A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age During the Civil Rights Movement
- By: Carolyn Maull McKinstry
- Narrated by: Felicia Bullock
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen-year-old Carolyn Maull McKinstry was just a few feet away when the Klan - planted bomb that killed four of her friends exploded in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It was one of the seminal moments in the Civil Rights movement, a sad day in American history…and the turning point in a young girl's life.
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Look Back and Live With Greater Understanding
- By jerrie Will on 05-07-21
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Raven
- The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People
- By: Tim Reiterman
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Tim Reiterman's Raven provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978. This PEN Award-winning work explores the ideals gone wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America.
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What a very thoroughly written book!
- By Traci P. on 04-22-17
By: Tim Reiterman
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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
- Unabridged
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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
What listeners say about Freedom Summer
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Roy
- 08-01-10
The Long Hot Summer
A child of the 60s I approached this book with the impression that I knew most of what took place. Fortunately, I was wrong. This book revisits the summer of 1964 when 700 or so volunteers arrived to register voters in Mississippi. Familiar characteris of the era come alive through Bruce Watson's pen - LBJ, Stokely Carmichael and others. More importantly, a critical number of the 700 participants also come to life which is so interesting. If you think you know what took place and you fully understand the implications - look at this book again. It is informative, well written by Watson, and wonderfully read by David Drummond.
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13 people found this helpful
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- M. J. Christensen
- 09-01-14
A Turning Point In The Civil Rights Movement
This is a thorough and engaging look at the summer of 1964 when a number of dedicated young people went to Mississippi to register blacks to vote and establish "Freedom Schools". All the harrowing events that started with the murders of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney are chronicled as Watson follows several of the volunteers through the months of June, July and August. The listener can feel the fear that the volunteers experienced daily and the culture-shock that many of them felt. Toward the end of the book, Watson mentions how Mississippi is one of the most progressive states in the South now, having more black elected officials than any other state in the country. This summer was the 50th anniversary of "Freedom Summer"; however, there is much more to be done before all Americans are considered first-class citizens.
The narrator David Drummond has the right tone and inflections for this important book.
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- SydsAirplane
- 04-12-17
Does he have to yell?
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes, I really enjoyed getting to hear perspectives from people on both sides of the civil rights movement. This book offered a more in-depth view than I got from my textbooks in school.
Any additional comments?
I like to listen to audiobooks at work while I do mindless tasks (like filing or filling out endless forms). Maybe it was the subject matter, but it felt like whenever a certain derogatory word came up from letters on the opposing side, Mr. Drummond was apt to shout these words just as someone was walking by my desk. (I know it's unrelated to the actual book itself, but I thought I would share that you should prepare those around you if you're going to listen to this with others around)
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- Maranda Zimmerman
- 06-11-24
thought provoking
I learned things I didn't know and the story very interesting and helped shape options about American history of the 60s and the struggle of civil rights.
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- Daryl
- 06-17-14
Important work of American history
Would you listen to Freedom Summer again? Why?
Yes! I have always been fascinated by the civil rights struggles, particularly in Mississippi, during the 1960s. Bruce Watson takes a complex time and place and brings it to life. I can feel the summer heat, the overpowering fear, and the glimmers of hope that were present during that summer that began the shift into voter racial equality.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Freedom Summer?
When Martin Luther King met the young teacher, telling her that what she was doing was not "nothing," that the children were the future.
Any additional comments?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bruce Watson is a talented writer, historian, journalist(?). David Drummond was very good in this performance, though there is something I can't put my finger on that does not make this a 5-star performance. I would listen to other performances of his - he is a good narrator (better than most).
Read this book if you have any interest in civil rights, Mississippi, the 1960s... heck, read this book!
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- Cheryl Aichele
- 05-16-15
I love this book
Very informative. I recently became interested in the civil rights movement's freedom summer & freedom schools and this book covers so much that I wanted to learn. Very detailed.
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- Lisa
- 05-14-24
An important inside view of the Freedom Summer movement
This book gave me an amazingly detailed look inside the freedom summer movement. It highlighted the humanity of the volunteers, giving the reader a truer and more vivid picture of who they truly were and what they were up against. I highly recommend this book.
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- David Hamilton
- 09-23-10
Change had to come.
Great read, or in my case listen to, "Freedom Summer" by Bruce Watson. 700 people going into Mississippi to draught attention to Jim Crow laws in the south in '64. Many were abused. Several lost their lives. This pales in comparison to the black population in Mississippi who were abused, and lost their lives under Jim Crow. Freedom Summer wasn't the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, nor was it the end. In My opinion Freedom Summer turned a candle into a spotlight. Change had to come
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5 people found this helpful
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- Bee Dooner Farms
- 02-08-16
I learned so much I did not know
What did you love best about Freedom Summer?
I lived in N Mississippi at this time. I was a teen but had no idea!!
What about David Drummond’s performance did you like?
engasging
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No
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- PaganDeva2000
- 09-05-24
I Don’t Want It To End!
I had NO IDEA how incredibly interesting this audiobook would be! I’ve been listening in the mornings during my commute to work. So many interesting facts! The narrator draw me in and I’m in a different world, seeing all that I already knew from a different perspective.
I thank BOTH, the author and the narrator for speaking to my soul.
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