Using in-depth interviews with participants and residents, Watson brilliantly captures the tottering legacy of Jim Crow in Mississippi, while vividly portraying: the chaos that brought such national figures as Martin Luther King Jr. and Pete Seeger to the state, the courageous black citizens and Northern volunteers who refused to be intimidated in their struggle for justice, and the white Mississippians who would kill to protect a dying way of life.

"There is a moral wave building" -- "Not even past" -- Freedom street -- "The decisive battlefield for America" -- "It is sure enough changing" -- "The scars of the system" -- "Another so-called 'freedom day'" -- "Walk together, children" -- "The summer of our discontent" -- "Lay by time" -- "The stuff democracy is made of" -- "Give unto them beauty for ashes".