Elizabeth and Hazel, David Margolick
Elizabeth and Hazel, David Margolick
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Elizabeth and Hazel
Two Women of Little Rock

Author: David Margolick

Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie

Unabridged: 8 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/10/2011


Synopsis

The names Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery may not be well known, but the image of them from September 1957 surely is: a black high school girl, dressed in white, walking stoically in front of Little Rock Central High School, and a white girl standing directly behind her, face twisted in hate, screaming racial epithets. This famous photograph captures the full anguish of desegregation—in Little Rock and throughout the South—and an epic moment in the civil rights movement.

In this gripping book, David Margolick tells the remarkable story of two separate lives unexpectedly braided together. He explores how the haunting picture of Elizabeth and Hazel came to be taken, its significance in the wider world, and why, for the next half-century, neither woman has ever escaped from its long shadow. He recounts Elizabeth's struggle to overcome the trauma of her hate-filled school experience, and Hazel's long efforts to atone for a fateful, horrible mistake. The book follows the painful journey of the two as they progress from apology to forgiveness to reconciliation and, amazingly, to friendship. This friendship foundered, then collapsed—perhaps inevitably—over the same fissures and misunderstandings that continue to permeate American race relations more than half a century after the unforgettable photograph at Little Rock. And yet, as Margolick explains, a bond between Elizabeth and Hazel, silent but complex, endures.

About David Margolick

David Margolick is a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review. He served for fifteen years as a legal affairs reporter at the New York Times, writing the weekly "At the Bar" column and covering the trial of O. J. Simpson, among others. He is the author of Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jane on December 23, 2011

When I was preparing to leave North Dakota for the college town of Galesburg, Illinois, my dad mentioned to me that among my classmates at Knox College would be one of the Little Rock Nine. Sure enough, when I moved into my triple room on the third floor in Whiting Hall, I realized that across the h......more

Goodreads review by Jean louise on October 25, 2011

This story broke my heart. It goes beyond that hateful picture and describes human emotion, hate, forgiveness and redemption. Beyond this there are SPOILERS so please read at your own discretion: Elizabeth is the shy young girl who signed up to be one of the nine who integrated Central High in the 50......more

Goodreads review by Shaeley on August 12, 2013

While the book does not always have the best flow, it is a fascinating account of how a picture came to represent the racial tension surrounding the integration of Central High School, and then the ongoing story of the relationship between two women (one black, one white) captured in the picture. On......more

Goodreads review by Journeywoman on June 09, 2011

I got this ARC at BEA. I found it marvelous. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars, leaving one star off because the end chapters weren't written as well as the first forty. That could be changed upon publication though. If you read one non-fiction book during the year, it should be this one. If you have kids, or......more

Goodreads review by Angie on February 09, 2016

Margolick's book is sort of a dual bio looking at the two main women from one of the most famous photographs taken during the Civil Rights Movement era. How that photo came to be and what happened to the two women later in life. The truth might surprise you. The story opens around summer 1956 throug......more