Starred Review Like Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (2006), in which Freedman detailed events from 1955, his latest historical narrative transports readers to Alabama to experience another significant turning point in the civil rights movement. The story opens in January 1965, when 105 black teachers attempted to register to vote but were met with violence on the courthouse steps in Selma, Alabama. Brutal attacks by segregationists increased during the weeks to come. Soon, Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders and demonstrators joined Selma's voting-rights campaign, which culminated in a peaceful, triumphant protest march to Montgomery in March and, in August, led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The major role played by Selma's courageous teenagers and children makes this a particularly sympathetic and significant story for young Americans. Freedman writes with great immediacy, weaving pertinent first-person accounts into a beautifully written narrative that is moving as well as informative. Tied closely to the text, the many well-chosen black-and-white photos record significant events, capture dramatic moments, and show individuals who took part in these historic events. With a timeless narrative and a timely epilogue, this handsome volume offers a vivid account of a pivotal moment in American history.

With characteristically clear prose sprinkled liberally with primary source quotes and carefully selected photographs, Freedman documents the historic 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march that sparked the passing of the Voting Rights Act, "the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement." Freedman's opening chapter is particularly effective because it focuses on the teachers' march to the courthouse to register as a major trigger for the movement. Timeline. Bib., ind.

A forbidding replay of the racist past in Selma, Alabama, Freedman's illustrated history highlights violence rather than conveying full coverage of black Americans' efforts to secure equal citizenship. To emphasize poverty, the text covers the choice of leaders to walk rather than drive cars and trucks. Led by a phalanx of teachers and spiritual leaders, the voting rights campaign drew attention to long lines of protesters, young and old, praying along roadsides and moving into urban areas. The closer freedom fighters came to city hall, the more likely they were to incur epithets, spitting, threats of lynching, and police truncheons. The author overlooks behind-the-scenes efforts of liberal negotiators and the media to arbitrate a peaceful freedom march.In chapter 1, Freedman's journalistic approach makes good use of diction, dialogue, and active verbs, but text omits cause and effect dating back to slavery. Photos incorporate all age groups in the survey but emphasize goodness in blacks, martyrs, nuns, and priests and evil in white police, deputies, and Governor George C. Wallace. The time line is inflammatory in its stark outline of menace and murder. This work has a place in the high school history class, but not in elementary or middle school libraries. Acquisitions librarians should approach so negative a study with caution and offer guidance for application of the resource to student research.Mary Ellen Snodgrass.