Overview

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’ TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A sweeping history of one of the nation’s most important African American churches and a profound story of courage and grace amid the fight for racial justice—from Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Kevin Sack “A masterpiece . . . a dense, rich, captivating narrative, featuring vivid prose . . . expansive, inspiring and hugely important.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice) “Race, religion, and terror combine for an extraordinary story of America.”—Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., bestselling author of Begin Again A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Kirkus Reviews Few people beyond South Carolina’s Lowcountry knew of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston—Mother Emanuel—before the night of June 17, 2015, when a twenty-one-year-old white supremacist walked into Bible study and slaughtered the church’s charismatic pastor and eight other worshippers. Although the shooter had targeted Mother Emanuel—the first A.M.E. church in the South—to agitate racial strife, he did not anticipate the aftermath: an outpouring of forgiveness from the victims’ families and a reckoning with the divisions of caste that have afflicted Charleston and the South since the earliest days of European settlement. Mother Emanuel explores the fascinating history that brought the church to that moment and the depth of the desecration committed in its fellowship hall. It reveals how African Methodism was cultivated from the harshest American soil, and how Black suffering shaped forgiveness into both a religious practice and a survival tool. Kevin Sack, who has written about race in his native South for more than four decades, uses the church to trace the long arc of Black life in the city where nearly half of enslaved Africans disembarked in North America and where the Civil War began. Through the microcosm of one congregation, he explores the development of a unique practice of Christianity, from its daring breakaway from white churches in 1817, through the traumas of Civil War and Reconstruction, to its critical role in the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. At its core, Mother Emanuel is an epic tale of perseverance, not just of a congregation but of a people who withstood enslavement, Jim Crow, and all manner of violence with an unbending faith.

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9781524761301

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Reviews

“Mother Emanuel is a masterpiece . . . Sack, a former reporter for The New York Times, delivers a dense, rich, captivating narrative, featuring vivid prose, prodigious research and a palpable emotional engagement that is disciplined by a meticulous attention to the facts. His excavation is an essential addition to existing histories and ought to be recognized as a singular journalistic performance.”—The New York Times “In Mother Emanuel, Sack puts forth a gripping exploration into how centuries of white supremacy impacted the church and the witness of faith against a deluge of hatred. . . . Poetic and captivating.”—Christianity Today “[Kevin Sack] has gifted the nation with an exquisitely tended and cathartic yield . . . Mother Emanuel [is] a masterpiece . . . It is high drama, impeccably written. A mosaic of history, reportage, and meditation, [this is] a perfectly timed cautionary tale.”—The Christian Century “Sack writes lyrically, from deep research, and with an unforgettable message about tragedy and resilience.”—David W. Blight, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom “[Mother Emanuel is a] searching history of the Charleston church brought into the headlines by mass murder . . . A sobering, expertly told history of the struggle for equality as waged from pulpit and pew.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review “ Big in historical scale but granular in personal detail, Mother Emanuel transcends the church of its title and the crime that made it famous. It feels like a monument to Black America that takes the form of a book.”—Edward Ball, National Book Award winning author of Slaves in the Family and author of Life of a Klansman “Good writers are a pleasure to read. Great ones are so evocative that you often tingle to get to the next page. Veteran journalist Kevin Sack’s new book, Mother Emanuel, is the latter, a masterpiece of great reporting, writing and storytelling.”—Charleston City Paper “This book shook me with its power and beauty. Mother Emanuel is a book of enormous ambition, meticulously researched, gorgeously written, and deeply fulfilling.”—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer prize-winning author of King: A Life “Race, religion, and terror combine for an extraordinary story of America, the resilience of a people, and their capacity to forgive in order to live with unimaginable grief. A powerful book—especially for times such as these.”—Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., bestselling author of Begin Again “In Mother Emanuel, Kevin Sack offers a deeply researched, eloquent page-turner, taking us from colonization and the African slave trade to modern times. Along the way, we feel the myriad ways the past still weighs on us, and we meet visionaries inspired by a more generous Bible, and a more democratic America, than the ones they inherited.”—Melissa Fay Greene, author of Praying for Sheetrock and The Temple Bombing “Breathtaking and beautiful!”—Marcia Chatelain, author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America

“Mother Emanuel begins as the tale of a vicious crime and a forgiving church, but turns into an epic story of Black life and becoming that spans 200 years. Beautifully written, a marvel of research, the book is set in one of the old corners of the South, peopled with 100 personalities and filled with as many subplots. Kevin Sack renders a portrait of Black Americans in every generation since the Revolution. Big in historical scale but granular in personal detail, Mother Emanuel transcends the church of its title and the crime that made it famous. It feels like a monument to Black America that takes the form of a book.”—Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family and Life of a Klansman  

Author Information

Kevin Sack is a veteran journalist who has written about national affairs for more than four decades and has been part of three Pulitzer Prize–winning teams. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a graduate of Duke University, he spent thirty years on the staff of The New York Times, where he specialized in writing long-form narrative and investigative reports, often related to race. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine. He was a 2019 Emerson Collective Fellow at New America.

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