Before, during, and after the Civil War era, Savannah needed saving--from itself.

The exerpt below explains, in no uncertain terms, what this marvelous book is all about. I would easily give it 5-stars without writing a word.

Excerpt: "Bigotry is an ugly demon. It dies a sluggish death. It weakens with each passing generation which so adamantly upheld its gruesome righteousness. In the end, it must wait for those prejudiced against, to do the impossible: to “pick themselves up by their own bootstraps” for they would receive little outside help. In the United States, the African American population did just that. They taught themselves and their children to read and write and remain decent; against so many odds, they learned skills needed for jobs at which they became adept or even better than their white counterparts, with lower wages, of course. With learning came the skill of the tongue that slowly but systematically opened the doors into the political arena. Blacks not only spoke openly about their African traditions in religion, culture, and music; they wrote books about it. In every facet of American life, including two world wars, the African American slowly but effectively infused black power into the national culture."