The Best of Enemies, Movie Edition

“Postbellum realities of life in Dixie through the lens of Durham, North Carolina, are shared in this narrative nonfiction book. . . . The history of the civil rights movement is chronicled throughout the book, with a focus on the lives of C.P. Ellis and Ann Atwater.”—Midwest Book Review

“For eighty years we've waited for a reply to Birth of a Nation. At last Osha Gray Davidson has done the job. The story of C. P. Ellis, Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan of Durham, North Carolina, and of Ann Atwater, a black civil rights advocate, his enemy for so many years, is one of the most moving love stories I've ever come across. More than that, in a time of bleakness, it sounds a note of hope. The Best of Enemies is a glorious work.”—Studs Terkel

“Mr. Davidson’s book provides a brilliant beginning for understanding the South’s many poor sons and daughters, black and white.” —Dallas Morning News

“A well-crafted portrait of the evolution of race relations in Durham, N.C.—and of America’s tendency to ignore issues of class.”—Publishers Weekly

“This eloquent blend of history and advocacy journalism ends with a follow-up on the major figures and— with that rarest quality in a book on race in America— a reason for hope.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A powerful testament to the redemptive powers of human nature.”—Booklist