“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
“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
“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
“Never before has this tale of legal and physical skirmishing been told in such detail. . . . Thoroughly researched and clearly written.” — American Historical Review
“[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
“[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
“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
“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
