Stony the Road

Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow

By: Henry Louis Gates

Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

A profound new rendering of the struggle by African Americans for equality after the Civil War and the violent counterrevolution that resubjugated them, as seen through the prism of the war of images and ideas that have left an enduring racist stain on the American mind.

The abolition of slavery in the aftermath of the Civil War is a familiar story, as is the civil rights revolution that transformed the nation after World War II. But the century in between remains a mystery: If emancipation sparked "a new birth of freedom" in Lincoln's America, why was it necessary to march in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s America? In this new audiobook, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of our leading chroniclers of the African American experience, seeks to answer that question in a history that moves from the Reconstruction Era to the "nadir" of the African American experience under Jim Crow, through to World War I and the Harlem Renaissance. 

Through his close reading of the visual culture of this tragic era, Gates reveals the many faces of Jim Crow and how, together, they reinforced a stark color line between white and black Americans. Bringing a lifetime of wisdom to bear as a scholar, filmmaker, and public intellectual, Gates uncovers the roots of structural racism in our own time, while showing how African Americans after slavery combated it by articulating a vision of a "New Negro" to force the nation to recognize their humanity and unique contributions to America as it hurtled toward the modern age.

The story Gates tells begins with great hope, with the Emancipation Proclamation, Union victory, and the liberation of nearly four million enslaved African Americans. Until 1877, the federal government, goaded by the activism of Frederick Douglass and many others, tried at various turns to sustain their new rights. But the terror unleashed by white paramilitary groups in the former Confederacy, combined with deteriorating economic conditions and a loss of Northern will, restored "home rule" to the South. The retreat from Reconstruction was followed by one of the most violent periods in our history, with thousands of black people murdered or lynched and many more afflicted by the degrading impositions of Jim Crow segregation. 

An essential tour through one of America's fundamental historical tragedies, Stony the Road is also a story of heroic resistance, as figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells fought to create a counter-narrative, and culture, inside the lion's mouth. As sobering as this tale is, it also has within it the inspiration that comes with encountering the hopes our ancestors advanced against the longest odds.

*Includes a Bonus PDF of images from the book. 

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Henry Louis Gates (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

One of the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2019

One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2019

Finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Nonfiction Literature

"Henry Louis Gates' prose comes across as natural and compelling in Dominic Hoffman's narration.... Hoffman draws in listeners with his deep and raspy timbre and smooth delivery. The mix creates a narration that is near perfection and guides listeners deftly through Gates's accessible but complex meditation on black identity in a racist America." (AudioFile Magazine) 

“A provocative, lucid, and urgent contribution to the study of race in America." (Kirkus Reviews)  

“In Stony the Road, Gates demonstrates his chops as a lyrical narrative historian. He surveys an era full of pain and loss but also human persistence and astonishing cultural renewal in African-American life. Reconstruction and its long aftermath down to the 1920s was a series of revolutions and counter-revolutions and Gates' success here is in telling it as a moving and complex story about politics, science, art, and ideas all wrapped in one form after another of racism, managed and blunted by resistance. White supremacy triumphs in this long dark era; it left many casualties along the by-ways of America's worst sins. But this is a work that shows that good history can also rise up as a redemption song when we know the facts of what happened and why and how people endure, thrive and create their own new worlds.” (David W. Blight, Yale University, and author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom)   

“In this insightful, provocative book, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., reminds us how the hopes inspired by emancipation and Reconstruction were dashed by a racist backlash, and how a new system of inequality found cultural expression in Lost Cause mythology and degrading visual images of African Americans. With debate raging over how we should remember the Confederacy, and basic rights again under threat, this unflinching look at our history could not be more timely.” (Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton professor emeritus of history, Columbia University, and author of Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution and the forthcoming The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution)   

Valuable examination of Jim Crow and Rise of White Supremacy in America

I learned quite a bit I really had no idea about before encountering this book, which was highly praised in a recent “Economist”. I’m glad that I purchased it. I had no idea what a racist President Woodrow Wilson actually was, nor the era significance of “Birth of a Nation” and how vile and reprehensible it was, the history of blackface, and the incredible bigotry and resentments against African Americans that occurred during Reconstruction. The entire period is a moral stain on our already fantastical and unrealistic vision of our country. The lessons herein must be understood, remembered, and discussed, and in the absence of that, we so much of history being repeated.

Wealth of Knowledge

Skip Gates has truly done the research on this subject matter. I’ve gone back and followed up on various references Gates noted in the book. Astounding never before addressed, truly learned new interesting facts. I had to purchase the book to reread some entries. Great book!

Excellent history of white supremacy in U. S.

This is an excellent history of white supremacy in u. S. and it’s shameful product, racism and violence against Blacks. It shy e a required reading for all Americans.

Good explanation of why & how Jim Crow happened

This was an informative examination of Jim Crow, including controversies inside the Black community about how to cope with & overcome segregation.

Great Historical Reference!

I loved the book. Great listen with lots of gritty details on a covered up history of the US.

Brilliant!!

This book should be mandatory reading in every American history class! Superbly researched and performed.

Respect to Mr. Gates

I'm a huge fan of Mr. Henry Louis Gates Jr and in reading this book, I've gained even more respect for him. To me, this is like a companion piece to W. E. B. Du Bois’s “ Black Reconstruction in America”. I've gained more insight into what reconstruction was like from more of an aerial point of view and classism amongst black people is nothing new. I really enjoyed it, and I will be reading/listening again.

excellent!

Mr Gates really is an excellent writer! From the first page to the last, I didn't want to put it down! This book has taught me so much, a better understanding of so many things.

The struggle of Black Americans

At the start you'll feel bad for them. But by the end you'll see how strong these fellow Americans are. I never knew the Harlem Renaissance was focused on this one thing. You'll have to read the book to learn why it came about. Very powerful book.

Thank you Professor Gates

A wonderful history lesson and it has encouraged a larger desire to learn more. Thank you Professor Gates.

A bit of a disappointment

I had three problems with this book: the narration, the content and the style. The narration is wooden and the narrator does not give the impression that he really understands or cares about what he is reading. Overall, this means that the narration fails to convey authority which is a fatal flaw in a non-fiction book, because the voice of the author has to have authority to make it work.

The content was a disappointment because the subtitle of the book is unclear and a little misleading. I was hoping for a history of white supremacy and the implementation of the Jim Crow laws as they were enacted and practised in America after reconstruction - ie the actual experience of living under these hateful racist regimes. This book, however, is much more like a review of the philosophy and literature of the period. So you get a lot of theory from the people at the time who were either justifying racism or attacking it (from lots of different angles), but you don't get much, or any, of what it was actually like for ordinary African-Americans to live through or for the white supremacists who were operating it - how it was implemented, how it changed over time etc.

I also found the style difficult. In a popular history book, I am looking for an author who has done all the research and then uses it as the background to tell the story in a compelling way. This book is more like a textbook: you get a lot of lengthy quotes from contemporary historical source material strung together by linking passages from the author. It feels like the author has to display all the reserach he has done and does not have the confidencve to put it to one side and just tell you the story. I wish he had done.

Overall, if you are looking for a textbook style compilation of source material on the theories of and reactions to white supremacy and Jim Crow, then this book may be for you. That did not include me. Either way, I cannot recommend the narraton in this audiobook.