1919

NPR Best Books of 2019Chicago Tribune Best Books of 2019Chicago Review of Books Best Poetry Book of 2019O Magazine Best Books by Women of Summer 2019The Millions Must-Read Poetry of June 2019LitHub Most Anticipated Reads of Summer 2019The Chicago Race Riot of 1919, the most intense of the riots comprising the nation's Red Summer, has shaped the last century but is not widely discussed. In 1919, award-winning poet Eve L. Ewing explores the story of this event-which lasted eight days and resulted in thirty-eight deaths and almost 500 injuries-through poems recounting the stories of everyday people trying to survive and thrive in the city. Ewing uses speculative and Afrofuturist lenses to recast history, and illuminates the thin line between the past and the present.