THE BEST OF ENEMIES Race and Redemption in the New South

The audiobook edition of Davidson's 1996 book still resonates in the context of today's unsettling race relations. Narrator Keith Sellon-Wright reflects the writer's engagement with reaching back to post-Civil War Durham, North Carolina, to explain its distinctive economic and social development. Davidson's account is studded with anecdotes, and all receive a lively delivery by Sellon-Wright. Woven into the city's history are stories of C.P. Ellis, a staunch KKK leader, and Ann Atwater, a powerful African-American activist. Sellon-Wright vivifies their pasts of poverty and instability. When the two serve on a committee to improve the chaotic Durham public schools, which their children attend, Sellon-Wright captures their emotional opposition and, finally, their mutual understanding and respect. S.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2018]