Interweaving deep historical analysis with gripping firsthand reporting on both victims and perpetrators of violence, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist charts the return of the American cycle of racial progress and white backlash and how the federal government has failed to intervene. "In 2008, Barack Obama's historic victory was heralded as a turning point for the country. And so it would be--just not in the way that most Americans hoped. The election of the nation's first Black president fanned long-burning embers of white supremacy, igniting a new and frightening phase in a uniquely American cycle of racial progress and white backlash. In American Whitelash ... Wesley Lowery charts the return of this bloodstained trend, showing how the forces of white power retaliated against Obama's victory--and both profited from and helped to propel the rise of Donald Trump. Interweaving deep historical analysis with ... firsthand reporting on victims and perpetrators of violence, Lowery uncovers how this vicious cycle is carrying us into ever more perilous territory, how the federal government has failed to intervene, and how we still might find a route of escape"--Dust jacket flap.

Part I: White grievance -- Part II: In defense of American whiteness -- Part III: White radicalization -- Part IV: An American Nazi's final bark -- Part V: A movement rises.