This was riveting. I knew barely anything about the integration process at Little Rock Central High School - it's the history of another time and another country - apart from, of course, the handful of really famous photographs that resulted from it. So when I came across this book on a list of recommended nonfiction, I thought it would be an enlightening read, and it was. What struck me, more than anything - more than the sheer viciousness of the white response to black kids getting an education, which was sadly not much of a surprise, for all the horror of it - was just how long the entire process was. I had this nebulous sort of idea that when the ruling came down, troops were sent in immediately and it was all over fairly quickly. Readers, it was not. It was, instead, a long miserable battle that went on for years and inflicted enormous trauma on the protagonists. It's very clear from the author's story that she was profoundly affected, as was her entire family.

And while this was an excellent and thought-provoking read, I am a little sorry not to have had the perspective of that family included here. Walls' parents, for instance, must have been absolutely terrified for their daughter, and while their continued refusal to burden their adolescent child with their own struggles was clearly born out of a desire to protect her, that refusal seems to have extended well into adulthood, as even decades later their half of the story is not really here. Some of it can be seen through gaps and empathy, but even so it is I think something which might have made a very strong memoir even stronger.