The City of Churches

The City Of Churches by Kenneth Robbins is a fictionalized retelling of the 1963 Birmingham church bombings that arose out the movement to end segregation in Alabama and throughout the American south. It was a time of police attack dogs and water hoses, protest marches, public accommodation sit-ins, and an increasing awareness of the injustices of "Jim Crow" laws discriminating against African-American citizens. Two men (a black handyman and a white polices officer) were killed by the same stick of dynamite in 1963, and in 1993 their sons have returned south to discover the truth behind the deaths of their fathers. The intertwining of the modern setting and the racial tensions of the 1960s are deftly interwoven into a story that is compelling, moving, and illuminating. The City Of Churches is strongly recommended for personal reading lists and community library collections.