by Garry Wills
First published 1968
Garry Wills examines America's potential slide toward internal warfare following Martin Luther King's assassination. The author travels across the nation documenting how cities prepare for racial unrest. He tests new chemical agents, examines experimental weapons, and reviews municipal riot control strategies. Wills interviews city officials, civil rights activists, and extremists from both races. His investigation reveals a country potentially arming itself for domestic conflict. The book explores whether America faces a second internal war as federal troops suppress uprisings in major urban centers and the nation's capital burns. Wills argues that the country may be heading toward catastrophic civil conflict, presenting evidence gathered from his nationwide tour of a divided America.
Genres: civil-war, 20th-century, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism
Setting: America, Urban Centers, Washington D.C.
Period: 1960s
169 pages · Hardcover · New American Library
Content warnings: violence