2024 the best of enemies book review

Price: $0.99
(as of Oct 21, 2024 10:35:16 UTC - Details)

C. P. Ellis grew up in the poor white section of Durham, North Carolina, and as a young man joined the Ku Klux Klan. Ann Atwater, a single mother from the poor black part of town, quit her job as a household domestic to join the civil rights fight.

During the 1960s, as the country struggled with the explosive issue of race, Atwater and Ellis met on opposite sides of the public school integration issue. Their encounters were charged with hatred and suspicion. In an amazing set of transformations, however, each of them came to see how the other had been exploited by the South's rigid power structure, and they forged a friendship that flourished against a backdrop of unrelenting bigotry.

Rich with details about the rhythms of daily life in the mid-20th-century South, The Best of Enemies offers a vivid portrait of a relationship that defied all odds. By placing this very personal story into broader context, Osha Gray Davidson demonstrates that race is intimately tied to issues of class and that cooperation is possible - even in the most divisive situations - when people begin to listen to one another.

Reviewer: Richard G. Heft
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: great movie, price, service
Review: great, historical movie, everyone should see, learn from

Reviewer: Glenn Amnott
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Even Better Than the Movie
Review: I watched the "Best of Enemies" movie on Netflix and enjoyed it enough to purchase the book. The book is even better. It gives great insight into the struggles of racism in the early 70s in NC through two very interesting real-life characters and the transformation of one of those characters to the right side of history restored my faith in humanity's ability to get it right . . . if not right now, well, eventually. A very good read.

Reviewer: Edward Carter
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption
Review: I gave the book a 4 star rating because I learned a lot about the history of Durham and the relationship of the poor Blacks and whites with the so called middle class "elites" during this era.I also didn't think that the title of the book really illustrated what I thought the book was going to be about. However, I thought that the final merger of Ms Atwater and Mr. Ellis was a normal situation when people regardless of original get or have the opportunity to work together for a common goal. They begin to realize that there isn't much difference between their wants, desires, and objectives in life. Both of them had a difficult time in accepting this fact and found that they could and would be ostracized by their friends. They accepted this and kept getting up.Its amazing how we all must have someone below us. THATS LIFE!!! IT WS A STRUGGLE IN THE "60". But we all go through it, didn't we?

Reviewer: DM
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: On the importance of a DIALOGUE on racial tensions, not monologues. GREAT BOOK.
Review: Great description of a local effort aimed at racial reconciliation, with relevance for our nation as a whole. I loved the friendship that developed across racial lines bt CJ & Anne. Very inspiring.

Reviewer: Carolyn Wilhelm
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: True Story
Review: This book is full of well-researched facts and reads like an educational article. About 2/3rds the way through, the reader finally begins to see how C.P. and Ann could start to become friends. Most of the time when reading, I couldn’t imagine how that would happen. This book would be important for everyone to read and understand. The race issues continue today.

Reviewer: Francis J. Lumia
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Best of Enemies
Review: Interesting book. Saw a production of this as a play and was very interested in the real people and real events. The play was well done and the book is a portrait of North Carolina during desegregation days. These 2 unlikely people worked together to get things done.

Reviewer: MusicLady
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A book for our times
Review: All the more prescient because of what is happening to our country right now in 2020; the unlikely friendship that bloomed between a clansman and a black woman. It is an incredible, heartening story, one that restores faith in the human race when it would seem that one man is perched and ready to destroy it all by himself.

Reviewer: brendaleebahr
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wow. What an inspiring history lesson
Review: Captivating accounts of historical recollections told from a variety of views. Can't wait to view the film version. Inspirational read