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“This is a significant contribution to our understanding of twentieth-century social movements, the history of race, and African American history . . . an important work in charting how we might think about and use literature as evidence for the 'missing puzzle pieces' in our understanding of social movements. . . . Monteith not only fills gaps in our knowledge but brings back to life texts largely forgotten that speak to enduring elements of the American experience. . . . This is a scholar at the height of her power, able to map the literary output of these activists to a clear picture of the practical challenges they faced in a rapidly evolving political climate. She guides us through what SNCC writers have been trying to share with a wider audience. Her work thus becomes a vital literary history for democratic theory and practice.” - Wesley Hogan, Director, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University “In her highly original, thought-provoking, and endlessly revealing book, Sharon Monteith skillfully blends history, politics, and literary studies to offer an extraordinarily intimate insight into the lived experiences―and the changing personal and public politics―of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. By taking seriously the enormous range of creative and imaginative writings produced by SNCC activists, SNCC's Stories brilliantly locates the emotional and psychological heartbeat of an organization at the forefront of the civil rights and Black Power insurgencies of the 1960s. It is a major new contribution to studies of both the modern African American freedom struggle and American literature.” - Brian Ward, professor in American studies, Northumbria University “SNCC’s Stories presents an insightful and revealing exploration of an unexpected aspect of the 1960s freedom movement: that SNCC’s field secretaries and leaders―the civil rights organizers who sank roots into the rural and small-town South of the 1960s to lead an unheralded African American struggle for equality―were also dedicated writers who embodied the organization’s deep literary culture. . . . Monteith teaches us that SNCC’s stories may embody a truer and emotionally more complete vision of the organization―and the struggle and perhaps America itself―than ‘objective’ histories.” - Mitchell Zimmerman, author of Mississippi Reckoning, and former member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

This is a significant contribution to our understanding of twentieth-century social movements, the history of race, and African American history . . . an important work in charting how we might think about and use literature as evidence for the 'missing puzzle pieces' in our understanding of social movements. . . . Monteith not only fills gaps in our knowledge but brings back to life texts largely forgotten that speak to enduring elements of the American experience. . . . This is a scholar at the height of her power, able to map the literary output of these activists to a clear picture of the practical challenges they faced in a rapidly evolving political climate. She guides us through what SNCC writers have been trying to share with a wider audience. Her work thus becomes a vital literary history for democratic theory and practice.

This is a significant contribution to our understanding of twentieth-century social movements, the history of race, and African American history . . . an important work in charting how we might think about and use literature as evidence for the 'missing puzzle pieces' in our understanding of social movements. . . . Monteith not only fills gaps in our knowledge but brings back to life texts largely forgotten that speak to enduring elements of the American experience. . . . This is a scholar at the height of her power, able to map the literary output of these activists to a clear picture of the practical challenges they faced in a rapidly evolving political climate. She guides us through what SNCC writers have been trying to share with a wider audience. Her work thus becomes a vital literary history for democratic theory and practice.--Wesley Hogan, Director, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University In her highly original, thought-provoking, and endlessly revealing book, Sharon Monteith skillfully blends history, politics, and literary studies to offer an extraordinarily intimate insight into the lived experiences--and the changing personal and public politics--of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. By taking seriously the enormous range of creative and imaginative writings produced by SNCC activists, SNCC's Stories brilliantly locates the emotional and psychological heartbeat of an organization at the forefront of the civil rights and Black Power insurgencies of the 1960s. It is a major new contribution to studies of both the modern African American freedom struggle and American literature.--Brian Ward, professor in American studies, Northumbria University SNCC's Stories presents an insightful and revealing exploration of an unexpected aspect of the 1960s freedom movement: that SNCC's field secretaries and leaders--the civil rights organizers who sank roots into the rural and small-town South of the 1960s to lead an unheralded African American struggle for equality--were also dedicated writers who embodied the organization's deep literary culture. . . . Monteith teaches us that SNCC's stories may embody a truer and emotionally more complete vision of the organization--and the struggle and perhaps America itself--than 'objective' histories.--Mitchell Zimmerman, author of Mississippi Reckoning, and former member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Author Information

SHARON MONTEITH is Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Cultural History at Nottingham Trent University. She is the author of Advancing Sisterhood? Interracial Friendships in Contemporary Southern Fiction (Georgia), coeditor of South to a New Place: Region, Literature, Culture and Gender and the Civil Rights Movement , and editor of The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American South.

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