Learn how antiracist activists showed the courage to defend democracy in the face of fascism.
- Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer
“At last, a narrative that pulls together unheard voices and events from Charlottesville’s Summer of Hate, giving insight, warts and all.”
- Rev Dr. Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary
“Nora Neus has given us a grand gift: the definitive inside story of the historic Charlottesville neo-fascist event in August 2017! We have yet to emerge from under its ominous shadows”.
Praise for 24 Hours in Charlottesville
An oral history of the white nationalist riots that shook the nation and signaled the arrival of a new era, this book gives unprecedented voice to the antiracist activists who fought back.
This book received a starred review from Kirkus.
24 Hours in Charlottesville
A gripping oral history of the white nationalist riots that shook the nation and signaled the arrival of a galvanizing new era, giving unprecedented voice to the antiracist activists who fought back
On August 11 and 12, 2017, armed neo-Nazi demonstrators descended on Charlottesville to rally in a show of strength for white nationalism. When they assaulted antiracist counterprotesters, the police failed to intervene, and events culminated in the murder of counterprotester Heather Heyer.
Emmy-nominated journalist and former Charlottesville resident Nora Neus crafts a searing account of these events from the voices of the antiracist activists, students, faith leaders, politicians, and community members who showed up to defend their city. In a bracing, fast-paced collage of original interviews, never-before-disclosed information, new statements from former Charlottesville mayor Mike Signer and former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, social media posts, contemporaneous news coverage, court testimony, and government reports, Neus portrays the key events of these historic twenty-four hours: the arrival of white supremacist demonstrators, the interfaith service held in response, the tiki torch march on the University of Virginia grounds, the protests and counterprotests in downtown Charlottesville the next day, and the deadly car attack.
An essential account of a national tragedy—the consequences of which are still reverberating today—and an indispensable document of on-the-ground antifascist action, 24 Hours in Charlottesville bears witness to the cruelty of fascism, the courage of counterprotest, and the necessity of defending our democracy.
