When the Smoke Cleared

Praise for When the Smoke Cleared: “A comprehensive picture of the riots and the political upheaval that followed.” —Washington Independent Review of Books “Doggedly researched and lucidly presented, this is a valuable case study for activists and policymakers.” —Publishers Weekly “A vigorous history of the 1968 riots in Washington, DC, and their long-lasting effects. . . . A valuable contribution to the literature of urban affairs and its intersection with social justice.” —Kirkus Reviews “With lucid, compelling prose, Kyla Sommers challenges the reductive, conventional narrative around the 1968 rebellions in DC and draws out the contemporary stakes. By illuminating what was and what could have been in a political juncture with striking resonances to our own, When the Smoke Cleared stokes the embers of our political imaginations.” —Michael Eric Dyson, distinguished university professor of African American and diaspora studies at Vanderbilt University and author of Tears We Cannot Stop “There’s no wonder this history of DC—defined not by ‘urban blight,’ but by community organizing and practical dreams of liberation—has been so buried, for its lessons extend well beyond the Potomac. This is history from below in its finest form. Sommers honors the buried and forgotten heroes as effortlessly as she holds up their work to a modern light.” —Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation and author of The Kaepernick Effect