Wilmington's Lie (WINNER OF THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE): The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy

Zucchino has written a brilliant detailed history of the conspiracy and coup that took place in Wilmington. It must not be forgotten. Frighteningly, the threat of white supremacy remains one of the greatest dangers to our democracy even today. it is shocking how evil people can become when they dehumanize, torture and kill people due only to the color of their skin.

I'm a native North Carolinian in my seventh decade of life and spent several years of my childhood living in Wilmington. The story told here is shocking, disturbing and not altogether surprising. Of course the truth of the Wilmington coup was never taught to me in public school. I'm thankful to the author for telling the story as it occurred, unvarnished by rationalization for a bygone era. It was a hideous event and can in no way be justified or contextualized.What equally saddens me though is the uninterrupted continuation of political actions in my beloved home state designed to suppress voters of color under the cover of eliminating voter fraud. The past repeat itself. Seems the past has never fully left us.Excellent book, superbly written, and engaging from start to finish. Highly recommend.

This book illustrates why we need to know our our full history to understand the story of America.This compelling story is masterfully told. The depth and extent of the author’s research is amazing — although I really didn’t need to know which thug had a mustache while the other had a mustache and a beard. A minor criticism of a worthwhile read.

What a great book with so much information.

This is an excellent account of a disgraceful and sickening event in the history of our country. Every American needs to know about what occurred, why it occurred, its long and short term consequences, and the identities of the main actors. Far, far too many Americans do not. (I myself did not know anything about what happened in Wilmington in 1898 before I read this book, although I did know of similar events elsewhere.) Most disturbingly, one can clearly hear echoes of 1898 in some of today's extremist rhetoric. I'll even go so far as to say that some of the most rabid fanatics of today would be more than happy to see 1898 repeated all over this country.

Fascinating to understand where bigotry was born in the south . A blot on American history and the fact we were never ,ever taught about in school . Certainly here in Florida it’s probably banned as this book probably is.

Notice that this book was written before the events of January 6. This book is an accounting of the tragedy of the coup in Wilmington that will sound very familiar to current events. The same type of people are still pushing the same game plan, the same machinations, but with less lynching, and more strawmen attacks. The modern version, witnessed a century before, tickles the ears and hearts of those willing to orchestrate these types of plans for perceived nostalgic power, under the feet and votes of the ignorant, who really don’t enshrine the meaning of the constitution. Well done Zucchino!

Wilmington's Lie is an excellent book, a well-written saga of a little known but pivotal event in our nation’s history. Although the book covers only the events in Wilmington, the author shows how the results influenced the rise of Jim Crow in the South as a whole. The fact that the book has been published in the fourth year of the Trump presidency and right before the George Floyd protests has deepened its significance. The book shows parallels between the events of 1898 and today — it describes a time when the progress towards civil rights and a more just society, happening over a full generation after the Civil War, was not only halted but ferociously taken backwards, with white domination of the city and the South as a whole lasting for 60 years. This book is a reminder that the long arc of history only bends towards justice if people make it so.My grandfather's family is from Wilmington and were involved in the 1898 coup, and not as the good guys. This made parts of the book particularly upsetting, but even more personally important.Wilmington's Lie is fascinating and timely.

Very well written with loads of details but not overbearing. Reads like a novel but factual as it carries you through time. So much I was not aware of, very glad to have ordered this as I am learning so many interesting things.

Excellent book, well written and hard to put down. I am an American and not proud of the ways the whites treat people different than them. But that's the way it is and does no good to ignore the harm it does.

It is extremely important that we learn the truth about the past. I grew up an idealist, believing what I was taught was the truth; that our leaders actually complied with the ten commandments. As a child I believed that as I became more mature, and as others also grew up, we would always choose right over wrong. I ask myself, if I were a black Afro-American, how would I have reacted to the events of1898; how would I react to the events of 2024. The book provides us with an important narrative of the events of 1898, but I found the writing prosaic. I also questioned a number of quotes: were they real or contrived. But I would still recommend reading the book. We are one planet; we are one people. When will we learn to respect the other? When will we learn that fake news has always existed (fake news contributed to the events of 1898) and that we must always ask questions and demand transparency and accountability.