'Separate' Is An Eye-Opening Journey Through Some Of America's Darkest Passages
Author Steve Luxenberg repeatedly manages to tell us stories around Plessy v. Ferguson that capture both the hope and the hopelessness that has been central to America's long argument about race.
Steve Luxenberg's storytelling mastery may be most evidenced by the fact that the big, sprawling swath of history he bites off in his new book — Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, And America's Journey From Slavery to Segregation — does not read like a big, sprawling, swath of history.
The story feels neither distant nor lifeless, and Luxenberg's careful narrative choices creates a lucidity that saves save the book from ever feeling unwieldly, even at more than 600 pages.
The story is briskly told — and that is impressive, in part because this is not a biography with the advantage of a single protagonist to focus the narrative and drive the action. Instead, it is
