Mississippi: An American Journey - Tapa dura

The author describes his quest to discover his parents' roots in rural Mississippi, exploring the proud--and shameful--culture that makes up his family's heritage

burban Illinois in the 60s, a gifted student and athlete, Anthony Walton went on to Notre Dame and Brown into a career in journalism -- all the while convinced that racism, insofar as it still existed, was on the way out.  Covering the racial flash points in New York in the early 80s, though, led him to feel that racism was the marrow in the American bone, and getting worse all the time.

Anthony finally realized this was a demon he had to stare in the face -- which, for him, meant going "home" to Mississippi, where his parents came from and, before his birth, escaped.  Still, childhood visits to relatives who stayed gave him the stuff of which nightmares are made.  Yet only by learning at last his own heritage could he discover his place and his country's nature. "Mississippi -- perhaps the most loaded proper noun in American English."

What his journey covers is 200 years of history and a huge roster of famous writers, martyrs