Her family still lives in Birmingham, and as we soon see, they play a role in this story, albeit perhaps not as important a role as she thinks they do. Her prodigal daughter's status gives McWhorter an insider's perspective, but this viewpoint can also be grating in its solipsism. McWhorter is a native Birminghamian, and that fact is salient to her story both in its unraveling and in its content. Carry Me Home nonetheless does not reach the heights these books scaled despite their shortcomings. Anthony Lucas and Taylor Branch as models for this book, and those examples seem fitting, as they too were similarly ambitious and in important ways flawed. Given that the original manuscript was three times the length of the finished product, one both wonders what ended up in the dustbin and appreciates the judicious touch of her editor.

Its grandeur alone will earn it a place amidst the civil rights literature of this era, especially among general readers who like their history to be gripping, grand, purple and sometimes a bit overwrought. This very epicness, this scale, this ambition, provides the book both its greatest strengths, of which there are many, and its greatest weaknesses, which are also noteworthy. Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, widely lavished with praise in reviews, a New York Times bestseller, Diane McWhorter's 701-page tome, Carry Me Home, is equal parts work of history, investigative journalism, and memoir. Reviewed by Derek Catsam (Department of History, Minnesota State University, Mankato)

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution.

Diane mcwhorter books