The Fishermen and the Dragon

Fear, Greed, and a Fight for Justice on the Gulf Coast

By: Kirk Wallace Johnson

Narrated by: David Lee Huynh

New York Public Library Best of 2022

A gripping, twisting account of a small town set on fire by hatred, xenophobia, and ecological disaster—a story that weaves together corporate malfeasance, a battle over shrinking natural resources, a turning point in the modern white supremacist movement, and one woman’s relentless battle for environmental justice.

“Riveting…it has a little of everything that a thrilling story needs. It feels quite prescient, as if something we’re living out now, you can see scenes of it then. A gripping book that deserves a wide readership.”--George Packer, author of The Unwinding

By the late 1970s, the fishermen of the Texas Gulf Coast were struggling. The bays that had sustained generations of shrimpers and crabbers before them were being poisoned by nearby petrochemical plants, oil spills, pesticides, and concrete. But as their nets came up light, the white shrimpers could only see one culprit: the small but growing number of newly resettled Vietnamese refugees who had recently started fishing.

Turf was claimed. Guns were flashed. Threats were made. After a white crabber was killed by a young Vietnamese refugee in self-defense, the situation became a tinderbox primed to explode, and the Grand Dragon of the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan saw an opportunity to stoke the fishermen’s rage and prejudices. At a massive Klan rally near Galveston Bay one night in 1981, he strode over to an old boat graffitied with the words U.S.S. VIET CONG, torch in hand, and issued a ninety-day deadline for the refugees to leave or else “it’s going to be a helluva lot more violent than Vietnam!” The white fishermen roared as the boat burned, convinced that if they could drive these newcomers from the coast, everything would return to normal.

A shocking campaign of violence ensued, marked by burning crosses, conspiracy theories, death threats, torched boats, and heavily armed Klansmen patrolling Galveston Bay. The Vietnamese were on the brink of fleeing, until a charismatic leader in their community, a highly decorated colonel, convinced them to stand their ground by entrusting their fate with the Constitution.

Drawing upon a trove of never-before-published material, including FBI and ATF records, unprecedented access to case files, and scores of firsthand interviews with Klansmen, shrimpers, law enforcement, environmental activists, lawyers, perpetrators and victims, Johnson uncovers secrets and secures confessions to crimes that went unsolved for more than forty years. This explosive investigation of a forgotten story, years in the making, ultimately leads Johnson to the doorstep of the one woman who could see clearly enough to recognize the true threat to the bays—and who now represents the fishermen’s last hope.

©2022 Kirk Wallace Johnson (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Fast-paced though complex account of ethnic collision among the fisheries of Gulf Coast Texas…[Johnson’s] fascinating and disturbing narrative is a winning mix of biography, true crime, and ecological study. A carefully written investigation full of villains—and the occasional hero.”--Kirkus (Starred Review)

“[A] richly reported and dramatically rendered investigative work…a sweeping story about racism, oil, big business, and climate change. Part thriller, part courtroom drama, and part environmental crusade.”--Fortune

“Xenophobia, the ethical limits of free speech, environmental disaster, the psychological effects of war, corporate greed—Johnson tackles all of these and more in his follow-up to 2018’s The Feather Thief…a sprawling historical narrative with sobering connections to our current moment. Book clubs interested in nonfiction selections will find much to work with here.”--Booklist (Starred Review)

Very interesting story

I was not aware of this story
I found the author’s research amazing and I cannot put down the book as I felt involved in it

And the beat goes on…

It’s a great story and is read very well. We’ll done!

For me the amazing part is it’s just the same old story over and over:

External factors like climate, economics, corporate greed or changing technologies create economic and cultural havoc among a group - and then the grifters and hate mongers present the easiest answer of all for the pain people are experiencing: That guy that looks different or prays different, or lives different from you — they took what’s yours.

Over and over… the beat goes on.

Read this story

WOW. What a story. The performance was perfect because I acould understand every word and I am hard of hearing

Very interesting

Growing up on the Gulf Coast I didn’t know all of this history, just bits and pieces.

Unexpected History

Fascinating, terrifying, and eye-opening history for Galveston and Houston. Think you know who the "good guys" are, or that the"bad guys" got what they deserved and disappeared or changed their ways? So many shades of gray, complicated lives, and twists of fate. Ancient history this is not; we're still living in its aftermath.

Hate only makes lives harder on both sides. Cooperation could have helped everyone. Humanity never seems to learn this simple idea.

Captivating narration from an actor with strong Vietnamese roots on the Gulf Coast. Highly recommend.

combo of great storytelling + terrific journalism

This is a blow by blow story of the destruction of once life-filled Galveston Bay, surrounded by petro chemical, oil, concrete and other industries who used the bay for their waste, destroying the jobs and health of the people who lived there, people so short sighted that they didn’t want to see that the companies that were bribing and lying to them were the problem, not the new Vietnamese immigrants.

An Informative and Unfortunate "American" Story

This is a very well told story that will surprise you, make you angry, make you happy and make you sad. The one I did not like was the beeping out of derogatory terms. It was distracting and I feel as someone who reads a lot of books similar to this, I don't want the experiences of the people thus book was written about to be watered down. I want to learn and feel as much as possible about their experiences as they happened.

Educational

I thought this book to be enlightening. It was very informative/educational as to Texas gulf history.

A MUST read!!

A pity that the Texas fishermen were so shortsighted as to miss the real enemy.....industry, until it was too late. Bigotry and xenophobia blinded them all and many paid with their health and their lives.

Jumped all over

Interesting two stories but the book jumps all over. Did not like the delivery way too scattered.