In Search of the Movement
Benjamin Hedin’s timely new book was published on the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery, Alabama marches.
In In Search of the Movement: The Struggle for Civil Rights Then and Now, Ben Hedin analyzes the legacy of the Civil Rights movement and illuminates the work that continues to be done today.
He profiles legendary figures like John Lewis, Robert Moses, and Julian Bond, and also visits with contemporary leaders such as William Barber II and the staff of the Dream Defenders. But just as powerful—and instructional—are the stories of those whose labor often goes unrecorded, the work of organizers and teachers, which show that the movement is a vibrant tradition of activism that remains in our midst. In Search of the Movement is a fascinating meditation on the patterns of history, as well as a look at the meaning and limits of American freedom.
Benjamin Hedin has written for The New Yorker, Slate, The Nation, and The Chicago Tribune. He’s the editor of Studio A: The Bob Dylan Reader, and the producer and author of a forthcoming documentary film, The Blues House.
Read Hedin’s recent essays at The Atlantic, “From Selma to Black Power” at www.theatlantic.com, and in The Oxford American, “Do the Right Thing” at www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/553-do-the-right-thing.
Praise for In Search of the Movement
“Benjamin Hedin went looking for the civil rights movement’s past, but he also ran smack into the present, which can suddenly look like the past and then just as suddenly look totally different. By bringing stirring people like Septima Clark into focus, Hedin does what good historians do, but by entwining history with current events, he does a lot more. Here is a haunting meditation on living in history as well as with it.”
~ Sean Wilentz, author of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln
“In Search of the Movement is a true marvel. Benjamin Hedin’s insightful combination of reportage and history of the Civil Rights movement allows us to see the era with fresh eyes. By tracing the continued legacy of the black freedom struggle from the 1960s to the present, this gem of a book wonderfully illuminates how the movement is living and thriving in our own time.”
~ Peniel Joseph, author of Stokely: A Life
“Beloved community and the exuberant humanism of the Civil Rights movement have never been so vividly rendered. Carry this book with you as a guide through our own anxious age. Beautifully written, sharply observed, whimsical and tender, In Search of the Movement is a road trip into America’s better self.”
~ Charles Marsh, author of God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights
“Fusing the personal with the political, the present with the past, Benjamin Hedin has written a sober, touching elegy for our shared history. In Search of the Movement is needed and essential, and it could not have come at a better time.”
~ Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, author of Brief Encounters With the Enemy
“A deeply intelligent writer and reporter, Benjamin Hedin repositions the civil rights movement as an ongoing crusade, a moral and political struggle that was seeded in the 1950s and 60s, but continues to develop in complicated, hopeful, and heartbreaking ways. In Search of the Movement is a bold and exploratory book, as much about Hedin’s journey—to reconcile an American past with the American present—as anything else. It reads like both a salve and guide for these heady times; I couldn’t put it down.”
~ Amanda Petrusich, author of Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World’s Rarest 78rpm Records
A reading and booksigning by Benjamin Hedin will be held at Malaprop’s Bookstore in downtown Asheville on Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 7 p.m. Call (828) 254-6734 or visit www.malaprops.com.
