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Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire
Paula Yoo’s latest is a compelling, nuanced account of Los Angeles’s 1992 uprising and its impact on its Korean and Black American communities.
On April 29, 1992, following the acquittal of four police officers charged with the beating and arrest of Rodney King and the earlier killing of teenager Latasha Harlins, the city of Los Angeles erupted in violence. Many of these events were centered on the city’s Koreatown, where tensions between the Black and Korean American communities had simmered for years, fueled by economic challenges and redlining and enflamed by sensationalized and racist media. Based on more than 100 personal interviews, Rising from the Ashes follows these events through the eyes and experiences of the families of King, Harlins, shooting victim Edward Jae Song Lee, and dozens of business owners, journalists, police officers, firefighters, activists, and other community members. Deeply researched and thoroughly enjoyable this is a vivid, propulsive, and moving story of a pivotal moment in recent American history that continues to resonate today.
On April 29, 1992, following the acquittal of four police officers charged with the beating and arrest of Rodney King and the earlier killing of teenager Latasha Harlins, the city of Los Angeles erupted in violence. Many of these events were centered on the city’s Koreatown, where tensions between the Black and Korean American communities had simmered for years, fueled by economic challenges and redlining and enflamed by sensationalized and racist media. Based on more than 100 personal interviews, Rising from the Ashes follows these events through the eyes and experiences of the families of King, Harlins, shooting victim Edward Jae Song Lee, and dozens of business owners, journalists, police officers, firefighters, activists, and other community members. Deeply researched and thoroughly enjoyable this is a vivid, propulsive, and moving story of a pivotal moment in recent American history that continues to resonate today.
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First published May 7, 2024
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About the author
Paula Yoo
12 books85 followersPaula Yoo is an acclaimed book author, TV writer/producer, and musician. Her children’s and Young Adult nonfiction books and novels have won many awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the National Book Award Longlist for Young People’s Literature, ALA-YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Honor, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, the Asian Pacific American Youth Literature Award, several IRA Notables and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections, plus many starred reviews.
Her latest YA nonfiction book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE, was published on May 7, 2024 by Norton Young Readers (W.W. Norton & Co.). It was selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard and has received five stars so far from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Horn Book, School Library Journal, and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.
The paperback version of her award-winning YA nonfiction book, FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: THE KILLING OF VINCENT CHIN AND THE TRIAL THAT GALVANIZED THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT (Norton Young Readers 2021) is now available along with a teacher’s guide.
Paula is also the author of several award-winning nonfiction children’s books for Lee & Low Books which include SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS: THE SAMMY LEE STORY, SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY, and TWENTY-TWO CENTS: MUHAMMAD YUNUS AND THE VILLAGE BANK. All three picture book biographies are available in chapter book form in Lee & Low’s “THE STORY OF…” series. Paula’s three CONFETTI KIDS early reader books for Lee and Low include LILY’S NEW HOME, WANT TO PLAY, and THE PERFECT GIFT, which have received starred reviews and were chosen as a CCBC Choices by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections.
As an executive producer/screenwriter, Paula has written for over a dozen TV shows, from NBC’s The West Wing to Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle and The CW’s Supergirl. She has sold several TV pilots and features to places like Peacock, Onyx/Hulu, and Amazon. She has been a member of the WGA (Writers Guild of America) since 2002.
As a former journalist, Paula wrote for The Seattle Times, The Detroit News, and PEOPLE Magazine. She graduated with a B.A. cum laude in English from Yale University, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College, where she was the recipient of the Larry Levis Fellowship in Fiction.
Paula also works as a professional violinist, having played with such ensembles as the Southeast Symphony, Vicente Chamber Orchestra, Torrance Symphony, Glendale Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony, and the Detroit Civic Symphony Orchestra. She performed, toured and recorded with bands such as Il Divo, No Doubt, Fun, Arthur Lee, Love Revisited, Spiritualized, and the King Crimson tribute band The Great Deceivers. She is a member of the AFM Local 47 (American Federation of Musicians).
Paula lives with her family and cats in Los Angeles, California. Her brother, David Yoo, is also an acclaimed book author who has written many Young Adult and adult novels for Hyperion, Delacorte, Balzer & Bray, and Grand Central. https://www.daveyoo.com/author/
Her latest YA nonfiction book, RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE, was published on May 7, 2024 by Norton Young Readers (W.W. Norton & Co.). It was selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard and has received five stars so far from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Horn Book, School Library Journal, and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.
The paperback version of her award-winning YA nonfiction book, FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: THE KILLING OF VINCENT CHIN AND THE TRIAL THAT GALVANIZED THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT (Norton Young Readers 2021) is now available along with a teacher’s guide.
Paula is also the author of several award-winning nonfiction children’s books for Lee & Low Books which include SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS: THE SAMMY LEE STORY, SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY, and TWENTY-TWO CENTS: MUHAMMAD YUNUS AND THE VILLAGE BANK. All three picture book biographies are available in chapter book form in Lee & Low’s “THE STORY OF…” series. Paula’s three CONFETTI KIDS early reader books for Lee and Low include LILY’S NEW HOME, WANT TO PLAY, and THE PERFECT GIFT, which have received starred reviews and were chosen as a CCBC Choices by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections.
As an executive producer/screenwriter, Paula has written for over a dozen TV shows, from NBC’s The West Wing to Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle and The CW’s Supergirl. She has sold several TV pilots and features to places like Peacock, Onyx/Hulu, and Amazon. She has been a member of the WGA (Writers Guild of America) since 2002.
As a former journalist, Paula wrote for The Seattle Times, The Detroit News, and PEOPLE Magazine. She graduated with a B.A. cum laude in English from Yale University, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College, where she was the recipient of the Larry Levis Fellowship in Fiction.
Paula also works as a professional violinist, having played with such ensembles as the Southeast Symphony, Vicente Chamber Orchestra, Torrance Symphony, Glendale Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony, and the Detroit Civic Symphony Orchestra. She performed, toured and recorded with bands such as Il Divo, No Doubt, Fun, Arthur Lee, Love Revisited, Spiritualized, and the King Crimson tribute band The Great Deceivers. She is a member of the AFM Local 47 (American Federation of Musicians).
Paula lives with her family and cats in Los Angeles, California. Her brother, David Yoo, is also an acclaimed book author who has written many Young Adult and adult novels for Hyperion, Delacorte, Balzer & Bray, and Grand Central. https://www.daveyoo.com/author/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
April 19, 2024
I am obsessed with the LA riots of 1992. I have been since they happened as a kid. I love the idea of bringing this history to young people and think it is really well done. I question a bit how some information was presented without interpretation or reflection from the adult (thinking here about the testimonies of the officers who beat King). But over all very comprehensive and well researched and something I look forward to giving my kids when they are old enough to read.
March 27, 2025
Yes to YA non-fiction!!! This book was so good, so thorough, so pointed, and so well-researched. Three victims of the nightmare we get when we (by we, I mean us white people) pit minorities against each other while keeping most of the resources for ourselves. LA has resources, baby. And thank God for our new understanding of systemic racism so Ms. Yoo can start off the story of the Rodney King beating with redlining, and the loss of 50,000 manufacturing in jobs in South Central. And a quick history of Korea in the 20th century. No one was telling these parts of the story in 1992.
Edward Jae Song Lee and Latasha Harlins were teens, and Rodney King was 25. This is story about teens, because the waves of history affect those who are born into them. These stories are all tragedies. The LA Uprising was a tragedy. I didn't feel many parallels to where I was during the Minneapolis Uprising (mostly on my roof contributing to a neighborhood group chat about suspicious vehicles), until Ms. Yoo mentioned the tourists. The fucking riot tourists. Suburban people only come to the city when things are the worst, and then they came to gawk.
Latasha Harlins' murder and the total failure of the justice system is probably the best part of the book. Yoo doesn't mention if the judge was white, but she was white. Yoo handles the issues of race in an exemplary fashion, which is the whole point. The whole of this tragedy is about handling race badly and where that got us. Yoo also manages to include the happy stories, the examples of how everyone can get along when people aren't jerkbutts.
Absolutely fantastic book. Should be read by all of the high school students and all the adults.
I remember Rodney King but I don't remember the LA Uprising. Being eleven at the time, the only news I remember that year is Olympic figure skating. Kids don't know anything. That is why we need books like this.
Edward Jae Song Lee and Latasha Harlins were teens, and Rodney King was 25. This is story about teens, because the waves of history affect those who are born into them. These stories are all tragedies. The LA Uprising was a tragedy. I didn't feel many parallels to where I was during the Minneapolis Uprising (mostly on my roof contributing to a neighborhood group chat about suspicious vehicles), until Ms. Yoo mentioned the tourists. The fucking riot tourists. Suburban people only come to the city when things are the worst, and then they came to gawk.
Latasha Harlins' murder and the total failure of the justice system is probably the best part of the book. Yoo doesn't mention if the judge was white, but she was white. Yoo handles the issues of race in an exemplary fashion, which is the whole point. The whole of this tragedy is about handling race badly and where that got us. Yoo also manages to include the happy stories, the examples of how everyone can get along when people aren't jerkbutts.
Absolutely fantastic book. Should be read by all of the high school students and all the adults.
I remember Rodney King but I don't remember the LA Uprising. Being eleven at the time, the only news I remember that year is Olympic figure skating. Kids don't know anything. That is why we need books like this.
August 5, 2024
This is book presents the information very succinctly and directly. I didn't know as much about these events as I should have so this is a valuable resource. I will have to look into more from this author.
October 12, 2025
Idk I had to read this for ela and while it’s an interesting topic it’s something I never would’ve picked for myself.
July 10, 2024
Thank you to Net Galley and W.W. Norton & Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was an interesting account of Los Angeles in 1992 through the stories of Rodney King, Latasha Harlins and Edward Jae Song Lee. The author did a good job of interweaving these stories and how Black, Korean and Latino communities were affected negatively by police action and inaction, media's sensational coverage which heightened negative views of these communities and the heartbreaking stories that affected all these communities. It also brought to light the abusive behavior of the police and racism/prejudice whether conscious or unconscious pervaded the city at that time. The author ends the book with a bit of uplift checking back in with key people within the story as well as their families and what came from this terrible year in their lives, and the city's.
dnf
July 15, 2024DNF @42%
This wasn't a bad book, but the audio narrator wasn't the best and could not hold my attention. I'm interested in the topic, but nothing was absorbing in my brain.
This wasn't a bad book, but the audio narrator wasn't the best and could not hold my attention. I'm interested in the topic, but nothing was absorbing in my brain.
January 15, 2024
Yoo's book builds on her successful previous book on the birth of the Asian American rights movement. I'm happy to have a book that puts the LA riots into perspective for young people, so they can more deeply understand the complexity of the events surrounding it. Yoo does a great job exploring all sides of this story. Her ability to provide personal narratives alongside larger ones is empathetic history at its best.
The book reads like great fiction, and I think it will pull in readers who are looking for something nonfiction but don't want to feel trapped by something too academic.
Yoo encourages readers to consider the connections between LA and today, as well as the underlying currents of racism that stretch from LA to now (the book even discusses the Watts riot, which students understand even less today. Her discussion of it is top notch and really accessible for younger people). However, I never gained the sense that she came across as preachy; instead, she many times subtly gets readers to question the relevance of the story from thirty years ago.
In being so comprehensive, the book could benefit from a few storylines being condensed. While I think the pop culture and rap music is important to the context, it detracts from the book's larger narrative.
Overall, I think that students who are interested in this time period, who want to know about the origins and views of this event would benefit from this book. There's been a wealth of documentaries about this in the last few years, and I think the book could be used to continue someone's interest in it, providing a way to continue some syntopical reading.
The book reads like great fiction, and I think it will pull in readers who are looking for something nonfiction but don't want to feel trapped by something too academic.
Yoo encourages readers to consider the connections between LA and today, as well as the underlying currents of racism that stretch from LA to now (the book even discusses the Watts riot, which students understand even less today. Her discussion of it is top notch and really accessible for younger people). However, I never gained the sense that she came across as preachy; instead, she many times subtly gets readers to question the relevance of the story from thirty years ago.
In being so comprehensive, the book could benefit from a few storylines being condensed. While I think the pop culture and rap music is important to the context, it detracts from the book's larger narrative.
Overall, I think that students who are interested in this time period, who want to know about the origins and views of this event would benefit from this book. There's been a wealth of documentaries about this in the last few years, and I think the book could be used to continue someone's interest in it, providing a way to continue some syntopical reading.
September 25, 2024
This book was amazing and I hope schools start teaching it. A crucial memory for me as a kid was watching the news on my birthday (and days afterward) being horrified by what happened to Rodney King being shown on TV. It was a really sad and scary moment to me. I think it was a basis for the work I try to do now. I learned so much more from this book.
I felt it was balanced, well written, well researched, had great text features (photos, Korean language writing), and I loved all the supplemental information about the neighborhood groups, community activist responses, Korean culture, and BLM notes at the end. The audiobook helped me double down on finishing it quickly and it was well voiced and helpful to hear correct pronunciations.
If you are a teacher thinking of teaching this book there's 3 supplemental media you could use to pair with this:
-Video clips and/or Ted talk of Lee Mun Wah speaking about his childhood and Asian/Black tensions
-A beautiful film (short) and tribute to Latasha Harlins. Forgetting where I found this/it's title but I think it was on vimeo?
-podcast episode from a new pod called Inheriting rebroadcast by Code Switch in 2024 in an episode whose title is something like "how family trauma can affect generations" not sure of the whole title. People mentioned in the book are featured and it's great to hear them go in depth emotionally in a way that a non fiction book might not be able to resonate for kids
Highly recommend this book! Can't wait to read her book about Vincent Chin now.
I felt it was balanced, well written, well researched, had great text features (photos, Korean language writing), and I loved all the supplemental information about the neighborhood groups, community activist responses, Korean culture, and BLM notes at the end. The audiobook helped me double down on finishing it quickly and it was well voiced and helpful to hear correct pronunciations.
If you are a teacher thinking of teaching this book there's 3 supplemental media you could use to pair with this:
-Video clips and/or Ted talk of Lee Mun Wah speaking about his childhood and Asian/Black tensions
-A beautiful film (short) and tribute to Latasha Harlins. Forgetting where I found this/it's title but I think it was on vimeo?
-podcast episode from a new pod called Inheriting rebroadcast by Code Switch in 2024 in an episode whose title is something like "how family trauma can affect generations" not sure of the whole title. People mentioned in the book are featured and it's great to hear them go in depth emotionally in a way that a non fiction book might not be able to resonate for kids
Highly recommend this book! Can't wait to read her book about Vincent Chin now.
June 11, 2024
Although this was written for a young adult audience, it is packed with information and I learned a ton even though I vividly remember these events in the news. It is written with great sensitivity toward the people who lived through the events and uses firsthand accounts to great effect. The book seems extremely well-researched, which is why I find one thing odd. The author says that after battling addiction and going through recovery, Rodney King had stayed sober when he was found dead in his swimming pool. Whenever I read a nonfiction book like this, I always get more interested in the subject and end up going online for more detail, and I saw a few news articles that stated King had died with alcohol and drugs in his system. I just found that really strange. Maybe I am totally missing obvious something here, but that seems odd in such a thorough and honest book.
September 27, 2024
"Using scores of interviews, direct quotes, news reports, and archival photographs to sculpt this thoroughly researched history, Yoo vividly and movingly conveys the broader historical context and the many lives that were affected, shedding light on systemic challenges that continue today. A nuanced and necessary narrative." [Kirkus Reviews]
November 21, 2025
I love that this was an award winning YA novel last year and it took over 3 months to get from the library. It should be required reading for all young (and older) adults to better understand the systemic failures which contributed to the civil unrest in LA in 1992. My 13 year old loved this so I decided to read it after she was done.
September 28, 2025
A very good read, and a lot of good information. If someone was interested in this topic, I would definitely recommend this title.
February 10, 2025
Lots of names to keep track of but really good YA nonfiction work to bring this story to life that has similarities to our day.
August 12, 2025
Very interesting. I did not know enough about the 1992 LA Uprising before but now feel like I have a good overview of this tragedy and the systemic racism that led up to it.
February 24, 2025
A moving reconciliation of sorts. A very powerful and humanizing account of connected tragedies and the conditions building up to them...
July 15, 2024
Well-researched nonfiction teen read about the 1992 LA uprisings and connections to the present, especially during the 2020 COVID pandemic and BLM movement. Read for Mock Printz Committee so that's why the review is broken down as is and may be slightly repetitive.
Story: Covers the stories and deaths of Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and the LA uprisings in 1992, as well as the culture in LA that led up to it (redlining, mainly white police force, white police officers’ brutality towards Black individuals) and the aftereffects (the effects on firefighters and media as well as the changes in training and demographics of the LAPD, how people were affected and their businesses, society’s discussions on race, the families’ responses). Also connects the 1992 uprisings to the 2020 uprisings after the death of George Floyd and the anti-Asian sentiment from COVID-19 pandemic times.
Voice: It was very straightforward and did not use fiery or inciting language, but presented the different stories of those involved clearly and in simple sentences. It used impactful statements and tied together chapter beginnings well with other details. It had an emotional impact on me in telling the small details about people and making the reader see that these individuals and families affected are just like any of us.
Style: The writing was in some ways similar to a fiction book, where chapters often started with a personal story following of an individual. I appreciated that the author spent time humanizing each of the individuals in the story - this person liked this sport, this person loved this subject, this person had a daughter, this person loved rock n roll records, this person cooked this, this person was so close to their cousins, etc. Such small details were included about Eddie, Glen, Tasha, and other storeowners and video tapers involved in the tumultuous time. For example, Williams (who slammed a cinder block against Denny the truck driver’s head) wanted to be in the NFL, and Tasha wanted to be a criminal attorney.
Setting: LA. Covered police, media, storeowners, different races (white, Black, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Mexican), and different age groups.
Accuracy: Extremely well-researched - the interviews with those involved in 1992 lend a lot of credibility and life to this work. Love how it covers the more mundane aspects of people’s lives (the firefighter’s wedding that still managed to happen while they spent days fighting LA fires, Latasha’s backpack and her notebook of poetry that was left at the crime scene where she lay dead, Eddie acting like a parent figure for his younger sister Jenny who had lupus). Sources range from video clips, trial documents, photographs, newspaper articles, interviews with people, and news clips. This work also highlights the topic’s relevance, noting the similarities between the 1992 uprisings regarding racism and police brutality with the 2020 uprisings, and how this has continued on in American culture. It was interesting to see the intertwining of Black and Asian communities experiencing racism and brutality at the hand of law enforcement and angry individuals throughout the decades. I also appreciated the section in Chapter 9 where the impact of media was emphasized - when Radio Korea provided the LA Korean American community with important news - “ ‘A community radio station acted as a command center during the civil unrest,’ [Jin Ho Lee] said. ‘We feel proud that we did something for our community.’” Similarly, LA Times reporter John H. Lee “realized his responsibility as both a journalist and a Korean American. Representation had to matter in what he wrote next” (Chapter 10). Voices of different races and occupations were heard - the hurt, the dead, the survivors, the family members, the fire fighters, the media workers, the videotapers, the jury, the police, random passerbys of Black, white, Asian, Latino descent.
Characters: I was struggling a little bit by the second half of the book in trying to remember all the characters because new people are introduced all the time, very briefly, to share parts of their stories from 1992 and how they were impacted by the uprisings. Eddie, Glen, and Tasha were fleshed out well, as were their families and the families’ testimonies about their loved ones and how they themselves handled the aftermath. I also loved the sections (“We Are the Same”) in Chapter 8 that talked about how people helped others regardless of race when they saw the chaos on Florence and Normandie. Reverend Bennie Newton, Black, and Fidel Lopez, a Guatemalan immigrant, ended up meeting when Lopez was yanked out of a car, had a car stereo smashed on his head, and doused with gasoline while Newton rushed to save him. Appreciated the discussion of Latino representation in Chapter 10, including that almost a third of the people killed were Latinos and Latino-owned businesses and newsstands were destroyed + how poverty intersected with the looting of stores. Carol Kim’s high schooler protest at the KABC-TV News station marching and chanting “Unfair media!” to protest the “media’s unfair news coverage of the Korean community and the L.A. riots” (Chapter 10) got coverage as the community responded and supported them!The Black community helped clear out Chung “Brother” Lee’s burned-down store after he had always helped Black youth in the neighborhood and showed all community members kindness (Chapter 11). Also…a big yikes that the police just pulled back from the flashpoint.
Theme: Racial discrimination and police brutality intersected in LA in 1992, continued on into 2020, and exist even today. While American society has much to improve on regarding race, there are people who treat other people like humans and who are kind to others even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Illustrations: The photographs included were impactful and came with helpful, informative captions. Some of them were difficult to look at, such as Edward Jae Song Lee dead/soaked in his bloody t-shirt (Chapter 9, along with the description by John Kim).
Design (including format, organization, etc.): The book goes from a prologue about LA being on edge to the stories of Eddie, Glen, the videotape of Glen’s beating, Tasha, the interactions between the Black and Korean communities in LA, the trial for Tasha with Soon Ja Du who shot her, the trial for Glen with the officers who beat him, the flashpoint (Florence and Normandie) where violence erupted after the jury’s verdict of not guilty came out, and then begins having Korean characters as the chapter titles: hwa (anger), han (sorrow/grief rooted in anger and oppression), the ending of the uprisings on May 4, 1992, Sa I Gu (429, the first day of civil unrest), and jeong (love/compassion). I appreciated the Korean titles to explain the feelings covered in each chapter among a wide variety of individuals in LA, and how the book ended with love.
Notable quotes
“Four days later, a grand jury watched the video and heard testimony from witnesses. Deputy District Attorney Terry White asked George Holliday why he videotaped the beating instead of just calling the police. ‘They were there,’ Holliday answered.” (Chapter 3)
“Henry, who was Black, rushed out and chased the men off. He covered Aguilar with a blanket. He flagged down a nearby SWAT van, which took Aguilar to the hospital. ‘I didn’t think at the time that I did something heroic,’ he said later. ‘I would just hope someone would do the same for me that I did for him.’” (Chapter 8)
Story: Covers the stories and deaths of Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and the LA uprisings in 1992, as well as the culture in LA that led up to it (redlining, mainly white police force, white police officers’ brutality towards Black individuals) and the aftereffects (the effects on firefighters and media as well as the changes in training and demographics of the LAPD, how people were affected and their businesses, society’s discussions on race, the families’ responses). Also connects the 1992 uprisings to the 2020 uprisings after the death of George Floyd and the anti-Asian sentiment from COVID-19 pandemic times.
Voice: It was very straightforward and did not use fiery or inciting language, but presented the different stories of those involved clearly and in simple sentences. It used impactful statements and tied together chapter beginnings well with other details. It had an emotional impact on me in telling the small details about people and making the reader see that these individuals and families affected are just like any of us.
Style: The writing was in some ways similar to a fiction book, where chapters often started with a personal story following of an individual. I appreciated that the author spent time humanizing each of the individuals in the story - this person liked this sport, this person loved this subject, this person had a daughter, this person loved rock n roll records, this person cooked this, this person was so close to their cousins, etc. Such small details were included about Eddie, Glen, Tasha, and other storeowners and video tapers involved in the tumultuous time. For example, Williams (who slammed a cinder block against Denny the truck driver’s head) wanted to be in the NFL, and Tasha wanted to be a criminal attorney.
Setting: LA. Covered police, media, storeowners, different races (white, Black, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Mexican), and different age groups.
Accuracy: Extremely well-researched - the interviews with those involved in 1992 lend a lot of credibility and life to this work. Love how it covers the more mundane aspects of people’s lives (the firefighter’s wedding that still managed to happen while they spent days fighting LA fires, Latasha’s backpack and her notebook of poetry that was left at the crime scene where she lay dead, Eddie acting like a parent figure for his younger sister Jenny who had lupus). Sources range from video clips, trial documents, photographs, newspaper articles, interviews with people, and news clips. This work also highlights the topic’s relevance, noting the similarities between the 1992 uprisings regarding racism and police brutality with the 2020 uprisings, and how this has continued on in American culture. It was interesting to see the intertwining of Black and Asian communities experiencing racism and brutality at the hand of law enforcement and angry individuals throughout the decades. I also appreciated the section in Chapter 9 where the impact of media was emphasized - when Radio Korea provided the LA Korean American community with important news - “ ‘A community radio station acted as a command center during the civil unrest,’ [Jin Ho Lee] said. ‘We feel proud that we did something for our community.’” Similarly, LA Times reporter John H. Lee “realized his responsibility as both a journalist and a Korean American. Representation had to matter in what he wrote next” (Chapter 10). Voices of different races and occupations were heard - the hurt, the dead, the survivors, the family members, the fire fighters, the media workers, the videotapers, the jury, the police, random passerbys of Black, white, Asian, Latino descent.
Characters: I was struggling a little bit by the second half of the book in trying to remember all the characters because new people are introduced all the time, very briefly, to share parts of their stories from 1992 and how they were impacted by the uprisings. Eddie, Glen, and Tasha were fleshed out well, as were their families and the families’ testimonies about their loved ones and how they themselves handled the aftermath. I also loved the sections (“We Are the Same”) in Chapter 8 that talked about how people helped others regardless of race when they saw the chaos on Florence and Normandie. Reverend Bennie Newton, Black, and Fidel Lopez, a Guatemalan immigrant, ended up meeting when Lopez was yanked out of a car, had a car stereo smashed on his head, and doused with gasoline while Newton rushed to save him. Appreciated the discussion of Latino representation in Chapter 10, including that almost a third of the people killed were Latinos and Latino-owned businesses and newsstands were destroyed + how poverty intersected with the looting of stores. Carol Kim’s high schooler protest at the KABC-TV News station marching and chanting “Unfair media!” to protest the “media’s unfair news coverage of the Korean community and the L.A. riots” (Chapter 10) got coverage as the community responded and supported them!The Black community helped clear out Chung “Brother” Lee’s burned-down store after he had always helped Black youth in the neighborhood and showed all community members kindness (Chapter 11). Also…a big yikes that the police just pulled back from the flashpoint.
Theme: Racial discrimination and police brutality intersected in LA in 1992, continued on into 2020, and exist even today. While American society has much to improve on regarding race, there are people who treat other people like humans and who are kind to others even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Illustrations: The photographs included were impactful and came with helpful, informative captions. Some of them were difficult to look at, such as Edward Jae Song Lee dead/soaked in his bloody t-shirt (Chapter 9, along with the description by John Kim).
Design (including format, organization, etc.): The book goes from a prologue about LA being on edge to the stories of Eddie, Glen, the videotape of Glen’s beating, Tasha, the interactions between the Black and Korean communities in LA, the trial for Tasha with Soon Ja Du who shot her, the trial for Glen with the officers who beat him, the flashpoint (Florence and Normandie) where violence erupted after the jury’s verdict of not guilty came out, and then begins having Korean characters as the chapter titles: hwa (anger), han (sorrow/grief rooted in anger and oppression), the ending of the uprisings on May 4, 1992, Sa I Gu (429, the first day of civil unrest), and jeong (love/compassion). I appreciated the Korean titles to explain the feelings covered in each chapter among a wide variety of individuals in LA, and how the book ended with love.
Notable quotes
“Four days later, a grand jury watched the video and heard testimony from witnesses. Deputy District Attorney Terry White asked George Holliday why he videotaped the beating instead of just calling the police. ‘They were there,’ Holliday answered.” (Chapter 3)
“Henry, who was Black, rushed out and chased the men off. He covered Aguilar with a blanket. He flagged down a nearby SWAT van, which took Aguilar to the hospital. ‘I didn’t think at the time that I did something heroic,’ he said later. ‘I would just hope someone would do the same for me that I did for him.’” (Chapter 8)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2024
I lived through this, but I was far too young to remember it. This was such a great summation of what happened in 1992 in Los Angeles with so many connections made to today. When I used to teach history, I always taught it as a spectrum of one event leading to another to another. History doesn’t happen in a vacuum. This book is an excellent example of how to teach a historic event without making it seem isolated in the grand timeline of things. I also loved the use of primary sources and images to make the reader feel like it’s happening today. Because in a lot of ways, it is still happening today. I would recommend reading this along with John Cho’s Troublemaker.
February 7, 2024
Once again, Paula Yoo writes a stunning nonfiction account, this time about the civil unrest in LA in 1992, an event I lived through but have scant memories of. Written beautifully, compassionately, and honestly, it’s a compelling and necessary book for everyone to read.
September 16, 2024
one of the most comprehensive writings exists about the LA Riots, written in an accessible way. Yoo explained well the whole societal environment that led up to the riots in SouthCentral LA, and the effects for Black Americans, Korean Americans, the police, the media, and various other elements.
The absolute feat of balancing the complicated, harsh, conflicted but also the united history of Korean and African Americans in LA in the era. It's definitely a painful history where innocent people were killed by misplaced aggression, in an overarching system where both groups were losing. And Paula Yoo does a commendable job humanizing the people on each side of the issues. Their understandable rage, mistrust, loss- everyone went through.
The amount of research Paula Yoo put into this book is tremendous, from personal interviews with family members of Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and Edward Jae Song Lee. She combed through old interviews and court trial transcripts. She's the GOAT. The way she found all the smallest details of all the people involved is sooo impressive and cool to read the random little connections. Like talking about how the background of the guy who filmed King's beating, how they randomly met many years later. Talking about Latasha Harlin's family, her clock backpack, the mural that was made for her. Seeing that they wrote the mural letter in her handwriting really kicked me in the gut with how young she was, a baby girl. And I think Yoo was very smart in pinpointing the killing of Latasha to show that there was overarching tension btwn Korean storeowners in LA and the Black community...
Sadly mindless racists will never understand these nuances and i can't imagine how frustrating it is for Korean and Black Americans to hear dumbasses calling for 'rooftop Koreans' during the 2020 riots against police brutality. Not caring that it was a complex racial environment where 2 minorities were in a zero-sum game, under systems of oppression. And those types of people who were hoping to 'kill all the rioters' (code for killing Black people and their allies against police brutality) wouldn't even actually care about the Korean people and their businesses that were targeted. These racists laugh watching 2 minorities conflict against each other. That's why it's so important to have this researched, nuanced account of both groups' experiences and see how they had so much underlying connections.
Another imp part of this book was the overarching conversation about the significance of Rodney King's beating being recorded, and Black people hoping it would finally be the evidence they needed to get justice... and then the rage and sorrow when the cops are acquitted. (Two of them were later found guilty of a different charge related to the beating).
Now 20 years later it's been recorded of hundreds of more Black people. It's crazy and sad. That's the significance of understanding why the LA riots happened and why people justify other kinds of race riots as a product of the yt supremacist system. But at the same time, knowing how about 63+ people died in the fires, cross-bullets, etc of the riots. Literally, thousands of buildings and businesses were destroyed. Knowing this splits you into so many conflicting views of the event, each justified in its own way. but there is a balanced take.
Yoo perfectly shows the balance between the different experiences and feelings people had, through first-hand accounts of those involved. All the little detals and background about each person- from the Asian journalists who got some of the only raw footage of the LA riots starting point, to some of the sole witnesses of Latasha Harlin's killing- and she ties everything together in a sensible way.
It's easy to read through and grasp without getting lost in minutiae, yet it also includes a lot of interesting details. Deeply humanizes each person involved. Even with so many different people and complex events, Yoo succeeded at intertwining all the interconnected stories and experiences of people. This could definitely be made into a multiple episode docu-series.
Since it was written for a teen audience, I think she especially worked hard to make it attention-grabbing like a storybook for teen readers. While also maintaining a mature, objective voice.
Lastly, as a pre-law student, Yoo's description of how the various legal trials were carried out, the opposing side's arguments, the jury and judge statements... super helpful to understand all the complex factors they were considering.
But the justice system failed. it failed on technicalities that lost sight of the overarching issues.
In the Latasha Harlins' case, it was definitely important that they considered how it wasn't first-degree homicide, but it's also unfair to Harlin's family and others for it to just be reduced to 'involuntary manslaughter.' And the judges assessment of how the storeowner lady wasn't 'a threat to the public' so it was ok for her to be released on probation and just fined $500. It's impossible to not acknowledge the fact the judge viewed her in a certain way, with sympathy that may or may not have been reasonable but did not nullify the danger of her actions. The overarching fact SHE SHOT AND KILLED A CUSTOMER.
And then in the first trial regarding Rodney King's beating and the 4 cops. The fact the jury was all tied up in the fact of whether one of the officer's baton actually hit King's head, as if that was the only thing the conviction hinges on... And King DID have head wounds, he was hit 50+ times, tasered twice. it was clear cut excessive force. and yet, the jury seemd to get wrapped up in the technicalities of 'what was the intention of them beating him' or whatever...
As a legal student, it feels pathetic for the legal system to get caught up in details like that and miss the whole picture, thereby leading to a miscarriage of justice. I know it was complex trials and decision etc. Yoo did a great job writing about it. But still. wtf.
The absolute feat of balancing the complicated, harsh, conflicted but also the united history of Korean and African Americans in LA in the era. It's definitely a painful history where innocent people were killed by misplaced aggression, in an overarching system where both groups were losing. And Paula Yoo does a commendable job humanizing the people on each side of the issues. Their understandable rage, mistrust, loss- everyone went through.
The amount of research Paula Yoo put into this book is tremendous, from personal interviews with family members of Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and Edward Jae Song Lee. She combed through old interviews and court trial transcripts. She's the GOAT. The way she found all the smallest details of all the people involved is sooo impressive and cool to read the random little connections. Like talking about how the background of the guy who filmed King's beating, how they randomly met many years later. Talking about Latasha Harlin's family, her clock backpack, the mural that was made for her. Seeing that they wrote the mural letter in her handwriting really kicked me in the gut with how young she was, a baby girl. And I think Yoo was very smart in pinpointing the killing of Latasha to show that there was overarching tension btwn Korean storeowners in LA and the Black community...
Sadly mindless racists will never understand these nuances and i can't imagine how frustrating it is for Korean and Black Americans to hear dumbasses calling for 'rooftop Koreans' during the 2020 riots against police brutality. Not caring that it was a complex racial environment where 2 minorities were in a zero-sum game, under systems of oppression. And those types of people who were hoping to 'kill all the rioters' (code for killing Black people and their allies against police brutality) wouldn't even actually care about the Korean people and their businesses that were targeted. These racists laugh watching 2 minorities conflict against each other. That's why it's so important to have this researched, nuanced account of both groups' experiences and see how they had so much underlying connections.
Another imp part of this book was the overarching conversation about the significance of Rodney King's beating being recorded, and Black people hoping it would finally be the evidence they needed to get justice... and then the rage and sorrow when the cops are acquitted. (Two of them were later found guilty of a different charge related to the beating).
Now 20 years later it's been recorded of hundreds of more Black people. It's crazy and sad. That's the significance of understanding why the LA riots happened and why people justify other kinds of race riots as a product of the yt supremacist system. But at the same time, knowing how about 63+ people died in the fires, cross-bullets, etc of the riots. Literally, thousands of buildings and businesses were destroyed. Knowing this splits you into so many conflicting views of the event, each justified in its own way. but there is a balanced take.
Yoo perfectly shows the balance between the different experiences and feelings people had, through first-hand accounts of those involved. All the little detals and background about each person- from the Asian journalists who got some of the only raw footage of the LA riots starting point, to some of the sole witnesses of Latasha Harlin's killing- and she ties everything together in a sensible way.
It's easy to read through and grasp without getting lost in minutiae, yet it also includes a lot of interesting details. Deeply humanizes each person involved. Even with so many different people and complex events, Yoo succeeded at intertwining all the interconnected stories and experiences of people. This could definitely be made into a multiple episode docu-series.
Since it was written for a teen audience, I think she especially worked hard to make it attention-grabbing like a storybook for teen readers. While also maintaining a mature, objective voice.
Lastly, as a pre-law student, Yoo's description of how the various legal trials were carried out, the opposing side's arguments, the jury and judge statements... super helpful to understand all the complex factors they were considering.
But the justice system failed. it failed on technicalities that lost sight of the overarching issues.
In the Latasha Harlins' case, it was definitely important that they considered how it wasn't first-degree homicide, but it's also unfair to Harlin's family and others for it to just be reduced to 'involuntary manslaughter.' And the judges assessment of how the storeowner lady wasn't 'a threat to the public' so it was ok for her to be released on probation and just fined $500. It's impossible to not acknowledge the fact the judge viewed her in a certain way, with sympathy that may or may not have been reasonable but did not nullify the danger of her actions. The overarching fact SHE SHOT AND KILLED A CUSTOMER.
And then in the first trial regarding Rodney King's beating and the 4 cops. The fact the jury was all tied up in the fact of whether one of the officer's baton actually hit King's head, as if that was the only thing the conviction hinges on... And King DID have head wounds, he was hit 50+ times, tasered twice. it was clear cut excessive force. and yet, the jury seemd to get wrapped up in the technicalities of 'what was the intention of them beating him' or whatever...
As a legal student, it feels pathetic for the legal system to get caught up in details like that and miss the whole picture, thereby leading to a miscarriage of justice. I know it was complex trials and decision etc. Yoo did a great job writing about it. But still. wtf.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2025
Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992 by Paula Yoo hit me hard—in the best way. I was 11 when the uprisings happened, living just outside of LA, watching everything unfold through the TV screen and the heavily filtered lens of the media. What we were sold back then was chaos, criminality, and fear. This was a pivotal moment in my life, for many people it was 9-11, for me it was this. It was my first real reckoning with the fact that justice in America wasn’t something evenly distributed. This book stirred up all those memories and framed them with such nuance and clarity—it was like someone put into words the awakening that started in me back then.
The book doesn’t just retell the events of 1992—it weaves together the stories of Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, and Rodney King with care, compassion, and scholarly rigor. Every chapter feels intentional, every fact grounded, every voice honored. The emotional impact is amplified by how thoroughly she presents the intersections of race, class, and identity in Los Angeles at the time. Yoo doesn’t let any narrative get flattened—she shows us the complexity, the pain, and the humanity behind the headlines. This book is essential reading not just for understanding the past, but for reckoning with the present.
The research here is impeccable—painstakingly detailed but never dry. Yoo paints a portrait of a fractured city that most of us outside LA never got to see. She brings all the threads together—Korean American shop owners, Black communities demanding justice, a city on edge, a police force that didn't serve its community—and presents them in a way that finally makes sense of the chaos the media deliberately obscured. What struck me most was how powerfully this book highlights the way public perception is shaped by what we’re shown—or not shown. It’s a gut punch, yes, but it’s also a reckoning. For those of us who grew up on the periphery, believing what we were told, this book is a must-read corrective. It’s raw, necessary, and powerful.
The book doesn’t just retell the events of 1992—it weaves together the stories of Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, and Rodney King with care, compassion, and scholarly rigor. Every chapter feels intentional, every fact grounded, every voice honored. The emotional impact is amplified by how thoroughly she presents the intersections of race, class, and identity in Los Angeles at the time. Yoo doesn’t let any narrative get flattened—she shows us the complexity, the pain, and the humanity behind the headlines. This book is essential reading not just for understanding the past, but for reckoning with the present.
The research here is impeccable—painstakingly detailed but never dry. Yoo paints a portrait of a fractured city that most of us outside LA never got to see. She brings all the threads together—Korean American shop owners, Black communities demanding justice, a city on edge, a police force that didn't serve its community—and presents them in a way that finally makes sense of the chaos the media deliberately obscured. What struck me most was how powerfully this book highlights the way public perception is shaped by what we’re shown—or not shown. It’s a gut punch, yes, but it’s also a reckoning. For those of us who grew up on the periphery, believing what we were told, this book is a must-read corrective. It’s raw, necessary, and powerful.
January 29, 2025
Just as she did in her earlier From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement, Paula Yoo presents an immersive account [4.5 for me!] of a pivotal moment in American history. In this case, it's the Los Angeles riots that erupted after the 1992 not guilty verdicts rendered by a jury after LA police officers were accused of brutally beating Rodney King, a Black man. An enraged community erupted, burning neighborhood businesses and attacking drivers and pedestrians. Since many of the stores were owned by Korean Americans, some of whom fought back to protect their property, the media presented much of this violence as race-related. In some ways, of course, it was, but it was much more complicated than that. Poverty, prejudice, drugs, gangs, and simmering tension between groups as well as mistrust of law enforcement all contributed to it. Mostly, though, this is the story of three individuals and three families mentioned in the subtitle. It's also an account filled with hope, healing, and forgiveness, perhaps more relevant today than ever before. The author provides a moment by moment of the riots, which resulted in 12,000 arrests, 2,400 injuries, and 63 deaths, as well as the events that preceded them, giving readers a feeling of being right on the scene as all this unfolds. For history buffs as well as anyone trying to understand this country right now, this well-written, thoroughly researched book is required reading. Yoo's work, brimming with cultural richness and empathy, is not to be missed.
May 16, 2024
Do you know where you were when the L.A. Riots happened in 1992? If not, do you know about the L.A. Riots in 1992?
I was 6 years-old living in the Midwest when the L.A. Riots happened in 1992. I've learned a little bit about them in history classes, but the information is quickly talked about and we'd move on. I was looking forward to reading Rising from the Ashes by Paula Yoo to learn more about this time in U.S. history, thanks to a gifted copy from Netgalley and Norton Young Readers.
Yoo does a great job of making this time in history accessible to a young adult audience as well as adult readers. She sets the foundation of L.A.'s landscape along with the death of Latasha Harlins and the beating of Rodney (Glen) King to set the backdrop of what happened in L.A. the spring of 1992. These two events lead to the death of Edward Jae Song Lee during the riots. Yoo not only shows the devastation to the area, but shows how the community came together to help protect businesses and clean up the area following the riots. Yoo also shines light on Rodney King, Latasha Harlins, and Edward Jae Song Lee so readers know who they were as people and not just names that are quickly read past. We learn about the legacies that they've left behind and the people they were before everything happened.
I highly recommend this book if you're looking for more information about this time period and event in U.S. history.
I was 6 years-old living in the Midwest when the L.A. Riots happened in 1992. I've learned a little bit about them in history classes, but the information is quickly talked about and we'd move on. I was looking forward to reading Rising from the Ashes by Paula Yoo to learn more about this time in U.S. history, thanks to a gifted copy from Netgalley and Norton Young Readers.
Yoo does a great job of making this time in history accessible to a young adult audience as well as adult readers. She sets the foundation of L.A.'s landscape along with the death of Latasha Harlins and the beating of Rodney (Glen) King to set the backdrop of what happened in L.A. the spring of 1992. These two events lead to the death of Edward Jae Song Lee during the riots. Yoo not only shows the devastation to the area, but shows how the community came together to help protect businesses and clean up the area following the riots. Yoo also shines light on Rodney King, Latasha Harlins, and Edward Jae Song Lee so readers know who they were as people and not just names that are quickly read past. We learn about the legacies that they've left behind and the people they were before everything happened.
I highly recommend this book if you're looking for more information about this time period and event in U.S. history.
May 21, 2024
Spring of 1992 was a tumultuous time in Los Angeles, California. After a jury returned a not-guilty verdict for police officers involved in the death of a Black man, the city was in upheaval, with riots and demonstrations that left even more people dead. Unfortunately, racism was not new to Los Angeles at that time, and the events of 1992 were the perfect catalyst for violence and destruction. While the 1992 riots occurred over thirty years ago, there are uncomfortable parallels to events taking place in the present day, as well, which begs the question of how and when any sort of balance can be found. This extensively researched and expertly presented historical novel brings the painful events in Los Angeles in the Spring of 1992 to a modern-day audience in powerful and memorable ways. Through the use of first person accounts, news articles, and real photographs, readers are immersed in history in a palpable way. Not only are there a great deal of details included, but the presentation itself is accessible to a wide range of readers while being gripping enough to keep those readers engaged. At the end of the book, an extensive list of resources is included that reinforces the academic nature of the book while providing readers with the opportunity to investigate relevant materials on their own. Best suited to an adult or mature young adult audience, this book is a noteworthy inclusion in contemporary history non-fiction collections.
July 27, 2024
Another powerful Asian-focused nonfiction tale by Yoo who wrote one of my favorites- From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement. This one is focused on the Asian and Black side of the Los Angeles of 1992 in which the Watts uprising and then as the murders and beatings of individuals blew up relationships between police and the community, Asians and Blacks, shop owners and neighborhoods. Yoo presents a history that is little shared even for adults let alone for a YA audience as she does with her previous book and this book. Two thirds of the way through the book it does get bogged down in names and situations that drag the book through a slower pace than I would have liked but it's picked back up as it makes its way toward the end.
To know the story of Latasha Harlins in particular and more information regarding Rodney King and LA during this time was enlightening.
To know the story of Latasha Harlins in particular and more information regarding Rodney King and LA during this time was enlightening.
October 14, 2025
Other reviewers have said it better, so I'll just echo: this reads like a story, but is a thoughtful, meticulously-researched nonfiction work that examines the LA riots.
I had no background knowledge on this before reading this work; I'd met the author at AWP and thought the way she described her work as YA nonfiction that reads like a story sounded absolutely fascinating. I've been reading more nonfiction and thought this would be a good one to read, too.
Yoo is stunning in how she captures the intensity of and complexity behind several events, including those surrounding Rodney King, Latasha Harlins, and Edward Jae Song Lee. Some people might feel opposite, but I appreciate how Yoo didn't tell us what to think about these events or try to boil them down to wrong vs right. I feel she trusts readers to thoughtfully evaluate and absorb the events and their contexts/backgrounds, not make simplified judgements. It was really refreshing and eye-opening.
Definitely read this if you're interested in nonfiction, the history of LA, and "lesser known" tragedies of the nation.
Thanks, Ms. Yoo!
I had no background knowledge on this before reading this work; I'd met the author at AWP and thought the way she described her work as YA nonfiction that reads like a story sounded absolutely fascinating. I've been reading more nonfiction and thought this would be a good one to read, too.
Yoo is stunning in how she captures the intensity of and complexity behind several events, including those surrounding Rodney King, Latasha Harlins, and Edward Jae Song Lee. Some people might feel opposite, but I appreciate how Yoo didn't tell us what to think about these events or try to boil them down to wrong vs right. I feel she trusts readers to thoughtfully evaluate and absorb the events and their contexts/backgrounds, not make simplified judgements. It was really refreshing and eye-opening.
Definitely read this if you're interested in nonfiction, the history of LA, and "lesser known" tragedies of the nation.
Thanks, Ms. Yoo!
May 8, 2025
In 1992 I was a junior in high school and like most people saw the coverage on the news. I didn't really understand everything that was going on at the time and just assumed that the not guilty verdict in the Rodney King Trial was the only cause of the LA Riots. Paula Yoo's book has given me a much better understanding of the events leading up to Los Angeles Uprising. It deserves all the awards it has received and should be considered for any adult or teen book club or high school reading lists. This book is well written, researched, and organized. I like how she used Korean words and then gave the English equivalent. Different ways of writing words is always fascinating. Even when you've read the story, look through her sources.
My only issue with this book is the incomplete information on George Floyd, but Yoo was dealing with information available at the time, 2022. In the past year, more of his story has been revealed. Maybe she can start her next project with his story and the events around it?
My only issue with this book is the incomplete information on George Floyd, but Yoo was dealing with information available at the time, 2022. In the past year, more of his story has been revealed. Maybe she can start her next project with his story and the events around it?
January 18, 2025
Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King and a City on Fire. Written by Paula Yoo, narrated by Kevin R. Free – a 2025 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction finalist. Yoo’s honest portrayal of the explosive violence as a result of the Rodney King trial stretches beyond mainstream media and finds real people with real hopes and dreams. This is a well-rounded look at the history of Lee, Karlins, King, their families, neighbors and cultures which led up the event, the event itself and the healing process many involved have gone through. No one is blamed, but miscommunication and misunderstanding are highlighted throughout. A must have in all high school libraries as there are many parallels to today which can be acted upon to prevent another incident.
August 30, 2024
I started and restarted this ARC a number of times and eventually it landed with the audio version.
Paula Yoo is a master at creating approachable, highly readable, thorough and informative nonfiction works for young people. Nonfiction is the hardest type of book to get off the shelf in a public library teen collection, but her approach is compelling and provides various perspectives that make for engaging stories. I don't know why I didn't immediately connect with this - I will say that the final product is much nicer to look at than the ARC was, understandably - but the audiobook was phenomenal and felt like listening to an incredibly well researched podcast. I can absolutely see myself recommending this to my teens, but also actually seeing them take it home.
Paula Yoo is a master at creating approachable, highly readable, thorough and informative nonfiction works for young people. Nonfiction is the hardest type of book to get off the shelf in a public library teen collection, but her approach is compelling and provides various perspectives that make for engaging stories. I don't know why I didn't immediately connect with this - I will say that the final product is much nicer to look at than the ARC was, understandably - but the audiobook was phenomenal and felt like listening to an incredibly well researched podcast. I can absolutely see myself recommending this to my teens, but also actually seeing them take it home.
March 1, 2025
This is the current YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults. Yoo looks back that the shooting death of teen Latasha Harlins and the beating and arrest of Rodney King by the LAPD. The subsequent court cases where the store owner that shot Harlins and the officers that beat Rodney King were found not guilt and lead to LA riots at the end of April in 1992 and the burning of several businesses in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles and the aftermath that occurred. Those these incidents occurred over 30 years ago Yoo's presentation of these events and the systemic racism via red lining and abusive practices by the LAPD decades in the making before these events occurred. Will resonate with teens who are interested in social justice issues and history.
June 23, 2024
I was in middle school in 1992, and while I remember Rodney King and some images of the aftermath of the not guilty verdicts from what little of the news I was exposed to, until now I had no idea of how different groups of the Los Angeles community were impacted. Yoo's style of retelling and reporting is fast paced and includes innumerable perspectives from all sides of the conflict that dispel what the mainstream media at the time liked to project.
In the classroom, this would be an engaging read for 7th grade and up, as well as some 6th graders that can handle the content. I will definitely be recommending this title on my nonfiction shelf.
In the classroom, this would be an engaging read for 7th grade and up, as well as some 6th graders that can handle the content. I will definitely be recommending this title on my nonfiction shelf.
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