Awards

• Winner of Lillian Smith Book Awards (Fiction) 2010

Overview

"This title presents the effects of one man's confrontation with segregation. After fighting a protracted legal battle, James Meredith broke the color barrier in 1962 as the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. The riot that followed his arrival on campus seriously wounded scores of U.S. marshals and killed two civilians, more casualties than any other clash of the civil rights era. To restore order, the Kennedy administration dispatched thousands of soldiers to Oxford. In """"The Price of Defiance"""", Charles Eagles shows that the stunning eruption of violence resulted from the 'closed society's' long defiance of the civil rights movement and federal law. Using many previously untapped sources, including FBI and U.S. marshal files, army and university records, and Meredith's personal papers, Eagles provides invaluable background for understanding the historic moment by demonstrating the university's - and Mississippi's - history of aggressive resistance to desegregation from the post-World War II years on, including the deliberate flouting of federal law. Ultimately, the price of such behavior - the price of defiance - was not only the murderous riot that rocked the nation and almost closed the university but also the nation's enduring scorn for Ole Miss and Mississippi. Eagles paints a remarkable portrait of Meredith himself by describing his unusual family background, his personal values, and his service in the U.S. Air Force, all of which prepared him for his experience at Ole Miss. Based on extraordinary research, Eagles vividly portrays the culture of segregation and the eventual desegregation of one of the last bastions of racial segregation, Ole Miss."

Full Product Details

9780807832738

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Reviews

[A] definitive history of James H. Meredith's 1962 violent integration of the all-white university. . . . Provides a perspective only a dedicated historian can do, tapping deeply into sources, files and unknown documents to bring alive one of the historical civil rights moments of the 20th century.--Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal A compelling . . . addition to an underdeveloped field of history. . . . Worthy of reading for those interested in the American history of interracial relationships.--Arkansas Review Eagles places the events of the fall of 1962 in the context of the times. . . . His narrative description of the years leading up to 1960 should be required reading for every Mississippi high school senior. . . . Nuanced, fully researched, comprehensive, and written in a way that conveys the immediacy of the events.--Jackson Free Press Eagles' goal of presenting the wide context of Meredith's fight doesn't prevent him from giving readers a gripping rendition of the events that followed.--Chapter16.org Eagles's work is extraordinarily well researched. . . . The resulting narrative provides an important picture for readers today of the ugliness and hypocrisy of segregation through one individual's valiant effort to end it.--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society Never before has this tale of legal and physical skirmishing been told in such detail. . . . Thoroughly researched and clearly written.--American Historical Review Simply put, this is the best study of this dramatic episode we have. . . . An invaluable contribution to our understanding of an important, complex, arguably pivotal moment in American history.--History News Network To appreciate Meredith's struggle, one must situate him in the culture of 1960s Mississippi, effectively re-created by Eagles, who details the university's segregated way of life regarding everything from sports to beauty pageants while also meticulously presenting the court proceedings.--Library Journal While there have been previous studies of this period, Charles W. Eagles had access to previously unavailable federal and state records, and personal records.--Inside Higher Ed With painstaking research and detail, Eagles explores the university's history, from its founding in 1848 as an alternative to Northern universities, where students might be exposed to abolitionist ideas. . . . Traces the legal and political standoff before Meredith's first day on campus and the university's eventual confrontation, with the fatal riot that ensued.--Publishers Weekly

The product of a prodigious scholarly effort. . . . Will no doubt be considered by many to be the definitive account of the Meredith story. . . . A work of enormous scholarship that fills in the details of a turning point in the civil rights movement. <br>- Review of Politics

A compelling . . . addition to an underdeveloped field of history. . . . Worthy of reading for those interested in the American history of interracial relationships.--Arkansas Review While there have been previous studies of this period, Charles W. Eagles had access to previously unavailable federal and state records, and personal records.--Inside Higher Ed Never before has this tale of legal and physical skirmishing been told in such detail. . . . Thoroughly researched and clearly written.--American Historical Review This now stands as the definitive account of this seminal moment in the struggle for racial equality.--The Historian Eagles' goal of presenting the wide context of Meredith's fight doesn't prevent him from giving readers a gripping rendition of the events that followed.--Chapter16.org A suitably landmark volume for a deservedly landmark event in the civil rights movement.--Arkansas Review The product of a prodigious scholarly effort. . . . Will no doubt be considered by many to be the definitive account of the Meredith story. . . . A work of enormous scholarship that fills in the details of a turning point in the civil rights movement.--Review of Politics Eagles's work is extraordinarily well researched. . . . The resulting narrative provides an important picture for readers today of the ugliness and hypocrisy of segregation through one individual's valiant effort to end it.--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society The Price of Defiance will no doubt be considered by many to be the definitive account of the Meredith story....It is a work of enormous scholarship that fills in the details of a turning point in the civil rights movement.--The Review of Politics With painstaking research and detail, Eagles explores the university's history, from its founding in 1848 as an alternative to Northern universities, where students might be exposed to abolitionist ideas. . . . Traces the legal and political standoff before Meredith's first day on campus and the university's eventual confrontation, with the fatal riot that ensued.--Publishers Weekly To appreciate Meredith's struggle, one must situate him in the culture of 1960s Mississippi, effectively re-created by Eagles, who details the university's segregated way of life regarding everything from sports to beauty pageants while also meticulously presenting the court proceedings.--Library Journal A fine book. Calm, thorough, and patient, deeply researched and subtly argued.--Journal of American History [A] monumental work of scholarship. . . . Completely surpasses other accounts of the desegregation of the University of Mississippi. . . . An indispensable volume that deserves a prominent place on the crowded shelves of civil rights scholarship. . . . Fluently written, rich in informative new evidence, and illuminating on both the individual actors in the drama and the broader institutional dynamics of Mississippi politics and education.--Journal of Southern History Well-researched and thoroughly detailed, The Price of Defiance is a valuable study of one [of] the most influential episodes in American Civil Rights history....Well-written and engaging, this piece of modern biography is an accomplishment in the fields of Southern and Civil Rights history. --Southern Historian Eagles places the events of the fall of 1962 in the context of the times. . . . His narrative description of the years leading up to 1960 should be required reading for every Mississippi high school senior. . . . Nuanced, fully researched, comprehensive, and written in a way that conveys the immediacy of the events.--Jackson Free Press Simply put, this is the best study of this dramatic episode we have. . . . An invaluable contribution to our understanding of an important, complex, arguably pivotal moment in American history.--History News Network [A] definitive history of James H. Meredith's 1962 violent integration of the all-white university. . . . Provides a perspective only a dedicated historian can do, tapping deeply into sources, files and unknown documents to bring alive one of the historical civil rights moments of the 20th century.--Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

[A] definitive history of James H. Meredith's 1962 violent integration of the all-white university. . . . Provides a perspective only a dedicated historian can do, tapping deeply into sources, files and unknown documents to bring alive one of the historical civil rights moments of the 20th century. <br>- Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

Well-researched and thoroughly detailed, The Price of Defiance is a valuable study of one [of] the most influential episodes in American Civil Rights history .Well-written and engaging, this piece of modern biography is an accomplishment in the fields of Southern and Civil Rights history. <br>- Southern Historian

Author Information

Charles W. Eagles is William F. Winter Professor of History at the University of Mississippi. His books include Outside Agitator: Jon Daniels and the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama and The Civil Rights Movement in America.

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