The Price of Defiance

“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