Sundown Towns

A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

By: James Loewen

Narrated by: Norman Dietz

Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Sundown Towns examines thousands of all-white American towns that were - and still are, in some instances - racially exclusive by design.

Professor emeritus at the University of Vermont, James W. Loewen won the National Book Award for his New York Times best seller Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.

©2005 James W. Loewen (P)2008 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Deserves to become an instant classic in the fields of American race relations, urban studies and cultural geography." ( Washington Post Book World)
"Sure to become a landmark in several fields and a sure bet among Loewen's many fans." ( Publishers Weekly)

An unsettling, heartbeakng, very important work

that ends, thankfully, on hopeful notes with thoughtful ideas for action. I heard things about neighborhoods near my home town that were painful, but I also heard things that help me look at the diversity in my current neighborhood with hope for the future.

A required audiobook.

This book was a meticulous study into how blacks were treated in the north after about the 1890's when much of the gains made after emancipation began to reverse themselves and blacks, although free, found themselves in encreasinly hostile territory as a result of white backlash. Primary documents along with first hand accounts of whites living during the time solidify the authors claims. It would be better to listen to this along with the actual book inorder that one may refer to the extensive notes that are not in the audio version.

This book is inportant in that it helps us remember exactly how racist we were and may still be. Many people have a cartoonish view of what racism is, that it must be overt and blatant to qualify. However, although racism was quite overt in the period covered in this book, one can see how racism became more covert and subtle in recent times and how it hides in the structural and institutional realities today.

A book not for the faint of heart.

If they only knew their own history

… the country would function so much differently! It’s no wonder based on this analysis that Africsn Americans are t far worse off than they are… how do we create some 250+ years of race based policy and then want to say a rising tide…

Powerful

I read a lot (thanks Audible!) and I have many books I have recommended because they were informative and surprising, many because they were simply entertaining, but I have rarely called a book "important". This one is.

FIrst, I studied history in school and yet I had never heard of this pervasive and systemic history of racism in America. The thousands of towns and whole counties that Mr. Loewen uncovers and discusses is staggering. I never thought of the overwhelmingly white towns and suburbs I have traveled through in my life as having a history of being "all white on purpose", but I have been to some of the places he discusses. On top of that, his research is impeccable and the stories of violence, arson, lynchings and non-violent attempts to drive whole groups of people from whole areas of our country is staggering. To this day we live in a world shaped by the policies of these Sundown Towns. And we don't even know it.

Secondly, he does not just make a case for the history of these events and he doesn't just examine how they existed and spread throughout mostly the NORTH of our country, he also strongly links this history of racism to effects in our daily lives TODAY. The overall socio-economic disparity of blacks versus whites in this country can be connected to these sundown towns. Their homogeneity relates to their continued segregation and prejudice. There is little more important in life than where you live (it relates to job opportunities, schooling for your children, social status, safety, crime and overall health).

This book will change the way you view your own town, not to mention our country. It will ALSO affect how you think of current events. Consider this: he links how Sundown Towns and the White Flight of white people into homogenous suburbs (the vast majority of which were established to be or were quickly changed to be "all white on purpose) evolved into the modern gated community - which are mostly white. After this book was published George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin in a gated community. When I look at the unfolding news about this attack and the undercurrent of racism it implies I can't help but think that this would never have happened if there was not a history in this country of creating Sundown Towns and thus segregated gated communities. Again, this is my interpretation of events, not Mr. Loewen's (as the book was published BEFORE the shooting) but I think the two are connected.

The narration is strong and the text can be a bit factually dense. But in the end this book will redefine history and current sociology for you. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Explains How American Housing was/is Populated.

Where does Sundown Towns rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Number 1. If you can't live anywhere that you can afford too in the United States because you will be violently attacked and harassed then that should be legally stated for the world to see, and stop trying to infer that people only live where they can afford. That "they need to try harder".

What other book might you compare Sundown Towns to and why?

The author states that there is no other book truly like it. He's right !!

Which scene was your favorite?

Not that type of book.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Endless amount of moments that are moving !

Any additional comments?

If books were banned in the United States they would choose this 1st. Some still are probably trying. I can't get it on my mobile device anymore. I can't get it on my audio library anymore. I purchased it and downloaded it but it's disappeared. I didn't delete it ?

THE WHITE NIGHT

If you want to know what perpetuates white supremacy here's one ingredient you might want to look at.

Time for Hard Truth...

This book was a real eye-opener. A social history and study of Sundown towns, what they truly are, and how they have become so racially segregated. Reading it made me sick- with the practice and with myself, for not standing up to it. Steeped in it, I did not like it, but never did anything about it. I am ashamed of that.

My father was a carpenter, and we moved back and forth from the Chicago area to north central Arkansas with the trades. In 1956 or 1957, my dad showed me a sign at the county line that said, "nigger, don't let the sun set on your head". It was a word I had never heard him say, and I could tell that he found it distasteful.

Another time that we lived in northern Arkansas, we tolerated verbal attacks, and even a rotted deer carcass tossed down our back stairs. We were white, but from the north, so we were treated as "fureigners." The neighbors made it quite clear that we were no wanted there. I hated it, hated the people who did it, and hated the area in which we lived. I spent high school in the area west of Chicago, a suburban area that bordered the cornfields out west. My parents never made negative comments about other groups of people, but I never really understood why there were only white people around us.

My grandfather lived in Berwyn, Illinois. He was unashamedly racist, and never gave reasons. I never heard about riots or lynchings or threats that drove out people of color, from him or from history classes. My parents talked about the sundown signs later-when I was in my teens, during the civil rights movement- and I naively thought that this entire attitude was in the past, or soon would be.

When I graduated from my all white high school, my parents moved to Arkansas again. As soon as I could, I moved away. It never dawned on me that most of the areas that I lived in throughout my life had skewed populations.

Mr. Loewen's study is compelling and clear, and this book should be a 'must read' for every student. THIS is the side of history that has fostered fights about confederate statues and their value. This study study gives voice to an insidious process that has been going on in our country for far too long. We must face our own racism, bring it out into the light of day, and stop it.

"Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry"

Incredibly eye opening

Changed my entire view of America, past and present. Makes me understand where I was raised in a whole new light.

Explains why people sometimes live where they do

What other book might you compare Sundown Towns to and why?

Lies My Teacher told Me

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book changed the way I thought about American towns and the geography of race. Loewen's work is phenomenal and a compelling read. Eye-opening and something every American should read.

A must read for the World. Period!!

A must read for the world. Period!! Do this instead of marching, posting, or looting!!