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An American Insurrection: James Meredith and the Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962
In 1961, a black veteran named James Meredith applied for admission to the University of Mississippi — and launched a legal revolt against white supremacy in the most segregated state in America. Meredith’s challenge ultimately triggered what Time magazine called “the gravest conflict between federal and state authority since the Civil War,” a crisis that on September 30, 1962, exploded into a chaotic battle between thousands of white civilians and a small corps of federal marshals. To crush the insurrection, President John F. Kennedy ordered a lightning invasion of Mississippi by over 20,000 U.S. combat infantry, paratroopers, military police, and National Guard troops.
Based on years of intensive research, including over 500 interviews, JFK’s White House tapes, and 9,000 pages of FBI files, An American Insurrection is a minute-by-minute account of the crisis. William Doyle offers intimate portraits of the key players, from James Meredith to the segregationist Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, to President John F. Kennedy and the federal marshals and soldiers who risked their lives to uphold the Constitution. The defeat of the segregationist uprising in Oxford was a turning point in the civil rights struggle, and An American Insurrection brings this largely forgotten event to life in all its drama, stunning detail, and historical importance.
Based on years of intensive research, including over 500 interviews, JFK’s White House tapes, and 9,000 pages of FBI files, An American Insurrection is a minute-by-minute account of the crisis. William Doyle offers intimate portraits of the key players, from James Meredith to the segregationist Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, to President John F. Kennedy and the federal marshals and soldiers who risked their lives to uphold the Constitution. The defeat of the segregationist uprising in Oxford was a turning point in the civil rights struggle, and An American Insurrection brings this largely forgotten event to life in all its drama, stunning detail, and historical importance.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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William Doyle
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 35 reviews
June 19, 2014
This is an enthralling and well written book detailing, in a sense, the last military gasp of the rebellious south. The U.S. government, under President Kennedy, after procrastinating for weeks, sent in over twenty thousand military troops to allow one black man, James Meredith, to attend the University of Mississippi (hereafter called Ole Miss) in 1962.
The author gives us a brief history of a state which had legalized apartheid within the U.S. Mississippi had always been the poorest state in the U.S. and Mississippi blacks were the poorest of the poor – and the most repressed.
When James Meredith applied to Ole Miss he was initially accepted, but in a subsequent letter he revealed that he was a native of Mississippi – and a black man. He was then refused admission. Mr. Meredith approached the NAACP for legal assistance. His admission was struck down by Mississippi courts, but this was escalated to higher federal courts who ruled that Mr. Meredith had to be accepted. It was at this stage that the racist and segregationist Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, stepped in and personally blocked James Meredith from applying - even when he was accompanied by representatives of the federal government. A showdown of epic proportions was building and escalating.
Then the president and his brother, Robert, the Attorney General, also became personally involved. They mistakenly tried to wheel and deal with the slippery Ross Barnett. After a few weeks of this tensions mounted, with states rights and segregation becoming the dominant themes. Hordes of militant segregationists started to congregate at Ole Miss located in the small Mississippi town of Oxford. The Kennedy’s, becoming increasingly frustrated with Ross Barnett, secretly put into place a Plan B – which was for the military to occupy and forcibly enroll James Meredith at Ole Miss. For this they initially had a few hundred Federal Marshalls accompany James Meredith to Ole Miss on a Sunday afternoon. When the crowds saw these Federal Marshalls all hell broke loose. The Marshalls were pelted and assaulted by bricks, rocks, pipes... from thousands of rioters. Some rioters entered the Chemistry building and tossed whatever they found at the Marshalls. At one stage they tried an assault with a bull-dozer that was on the campus. They were joined by more rioters with guns of all sorts (some from the Civil War era).
After a few desperate hours of this the Marshalls called for reinforcements. But some of these were at military bases over a hundred miles away. They arrived piecemeal. When a few hundred military police arrived with bayonets drawn the crowds dispersed, but only to occupy the town of Oxford. Some of the troops were federalized Mississippi National Guards who at first may have been reluctant, but when they encountered the pandemonium at Ole Miss they quickly realized that order had to be restored, otherwise the University would be destroyed. Less could be said of Mississippi Highway patrolmen who tried to prevent reinforcements – and many looked on joyfully at the rioters.
The end result was that James Meredith attended university. It would be nice to say that all went well, but he was subjected to constant racial abuse during his time at Ole Miss (and even those who attempted to befriend him suffered abuse).
This book provides us with vivid portraits of both the events and personalities involved – the Kennedy’s, Governor Ross Barnett and segregationist organizations like the Citizens Council.
Through it all, James Meredith presides and orchestrates – a courageous and individualistic tower of stoic strength.
The author gives us a brief history of a state which had legalized apartheid within the U.S. Mississippi had always been the poorest state in the U.S. and Mississippi blacks were the poorest of the poor – and the most repressed.
When James Meredith applied to Ole Miss he was initially accepted, but in a subsequent letter he revealed that he was a native of Mississippi – and a black man. He was then refused admission. Mr. Meredith approached the NAACP for legal assistance. His admission was struck down by Mississippi courts, but this was escalated to higher federal courts who ruled that Mr. Meredith had to be accepted. It was at this stage that the racist and segregationist Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, stepped in and personally blocked James Meredith from applying - even when he was accompanied by representatives of the federal government. A showdown of epic proportions was building and escalating.
Then the president and his brother, Robert, the Attorney General, also became personally involved. They mistakenly tried to wheel and deal with the slippery Ross Barnett. After a few weeks of this tensions mounted, with states rights and segregation becoming the dominant themes. Hordes of militant segregationists started to congregate at Ole Miss located in the small Mississippi town of Oxford. The Kennedy’s, becoming increasingly frustrated with Ross Barnett, secretly put into place a Plan B – which was for the military to occupy and forcibly enroll James Meredith at Ole Miss. For this they initially had a few hundred Federal Marshalls accompany James Meredith to Ole Miss on a Sunday afternoon. When the crowds saw these Federal Marshalls all hell broke loose. The Marshalls were pelted and assaulted by bricks, rocks, pipes... from thousands of rioters. Some rioters entered the Chemistry building and tossed whatever they found at the Marshalls. At one stage they tried an assault with a bull-dozer that was on the campus. They were joined by more rioters with guns of all sorts (some from the Civil War era).
After a few desperate hours of this the Marshalls called for reinforcements. But some of these were at military bases over a hundred miles away. They arrived piecemeal. When a few hundred military police arrived with bayonets drawn the crowds dispersed, but only to occupy the town of Oxford. Some of the troops were federalized Mississippi National Guards who at first may have been reluctant, but when they encountered the pandemonium at Ole Miss they quickly realized that order had to be restored, otherwise the University would be destroyed. Less could be said of Mississippi Highway patrolmen who tried to prevent reinforcements – and many looked on joyfully at the rioters.
The end result was that James Meredith attended university. It would be nice to say that all went well, but he was subjected to constant racial abuse during his time at Ole Miss (and even those who attempted to befriend him suffered abuse).
This book provides us with vivid portraits of both the events and personalities involved – the Kennedy’s, Governor Ross Barnett and segregationist organizations like the Citizens Council.
Through it all, James Meredith presides and orchestrates – a courageous and individualistic tower of stoic strength.
February 5, 2021
William Doyle’s An American Insurrection recounts the bloody integration of the University of Mississippi in fall of 1962, where James Meredith’s arrival on campus provoked legal resistance and a full-fledged riot. Doyle shows that Meredith’s campaign at Ole Miss was particularly audacious; the Magnolia State hosted the most vicious apartheid regime in the nation, overseen by the crooked Governor Ross H. Barnett. Which didn’t deter Meredith, an Air Force veteran whose decision to apply “quietly launched a one-man revolution.” Doyle recounts the legal battles and political jousting between Barnett and John F. Kennedy, whom he characterizes as a “cold-blooded political technocrat” still reluctant to embrace Civil Rights (brother Bobby, his Attorney General, fares much better in Doyle’s telling, repeatedly undercutting Barnett and his underlings); the efforts of Black workers like Medgar Evers to organize support for Meredith; and the mobilization of the Far Right, led by ghastly figures like Klan chief Robert Shelton and ex-General Edwin Walker, in violent defiance of Meredith’s actions. Thus, Oxford, Mississippi hosted a two-day clash between armed rioters and Federal marshals, in which two people died, hundreds were injured and America (Doyle argues) comes as close to civil war as it had at any time since 1960s. Doyle recounts the riot in bracing, blow-by-blow detail, emphasizing the courage of the harried Marshals and National Guardsmen, the loathsome culpability of Barnett and Walker (which resulted in hundreds of armed men driving to Oxford to join native racists) and the stubborn resolution of Meredith, who refused to back down. Eventually, Meredith was admitted to Ole Miss (with a phalanx of Marshals and Guardsmen guarding him) and the crisis passed, though Mississippi remained the site of racial strife and violence for years to come. A sobering reminder (if needed) of how easily America is brought to the razor’s edge by violent reactionaries, and how Black courage and resolution moves faster than reluctant white allies.
December 7, 2009
I think of 1962 as the year the fictions died, and not just because William Faulkner died on July 6, 1962.
It was a tense summer: A black man, James Meredith, had applied for admission to the University of Mississippi, and the state tried every legal maneuver -- and some clearly illegal ones -- to prevent it. In May, I had graduated from the university, which is known as ''Ole Miss'' and is in Oxford, where I grew up. At the end of September, when I left for a year in Germany on a Fulbright grant, Meredith was about to enroll, and demons were about to be unleashed in the town.
The fictions that died that fall were white supremacy and state sovereignty. But it took a bloody riot and armed military intervention to kill them.
William Doyle's ''An American Insurrection'' is a compelling account of how the last battle of the Civil War came to be fought in my hometown. For what took place on the Ole Miss campus and in the town of Oxford in the first days of October 1962 was, as Doyle puts it, ''the biggest domestic military crisis of the 20th century.'' To end the disorder, the Kennedy administration deployed ''more soldiers than the United States had in Korea, and the peak troop strength of nearly fifteen thousand in the Oxford vicinity was three times more American troops than were stationed in West Berlin.''
Any reader of Faulkner knows how steeped Mississippi was in its own past, how white folks were caught up in tales of great-granddaddy marching off to Shiloh or Chickamauga. And that much of the state was mired in the kind of poverty that breeds the resentment, frustration, hatred and folly that Faulkner depicted. But I doubt that anyone realized how deadly the state could be until the riot happened.
Intelligent leadership, however, might have prevented it -- or even just leadership based on political cunning. The year after the Ole Miss riot, George Wallace would do what Doyle calls a ''carefully choreographed charade'' at the University of Alabama, blocking the ''schoolhouse door'' until forced to submit -- saving face and launching a national political career in the process.
But the Ole Miss disaster was the product of political indecision -- the ''dithering,'' as Doyle calls it, of John and Robert Kennedy and the utter ineptness of Mississippi's governor, Ross Barnett. To be fair to the Kennedys, they had no idea that Barnett was as dumb as a stump.
Barnett reminded my father of ''an old mud turtle,'' which with his thick neck and beaky nose Barnett surely resembled. But turtles have the sense to stay in their shells when threatened by things beyond their control. Barnett didn't.
The conversations between Barnett and the Kennedys that Doyle recounts -- available on the presidential tapes that were the subject of Doyle's earlier book, ''Inside the Oval Office'' -- show that Barnett wanted to do the kind of face-saving charade at which Wallace would be so successful a year later: a capitulation in the face of federal power, which would both allow Meredith to enter the university and make Barnett look like a martyr in the eyes of the segregationists. But Barnett couldn't make up his mind how far things should go until they had gone too far.
And they went too far on Saturday, Sept. 29, when Barnett made an appearance at the halftime of an Ole Miss football game. The crowd was already inflamed by the appearance of the world's largest Confederate flag, which was unfurled over the heads of the Ole Miss marching band. When Barnett ''strutted onto the field,'' Doyle writes, he was ''saturated with one of the most powerful crowd raptures ever given to an American politician.'' A witness remembers it as ''the way Nuremberg must have been!'' An unstoppable, tragic confrontation was under way.
My parents lived on the edge of town, and from the woods and fields behind the house, my mother recalled, strange men appeared throughout the following day, crossing our yard on their way to the campus. They were also arriving by car from as far away as California.
Imagine hundreds of Timothy McVeighs -- racist, anti-government fanatics -- blending with hormone-driven college kids, many of whom may have thought of the thing as just a big fraternity prank. Until it got out of hand, that is: Two people were killed in the night of Sept. 30 and morning of Oct. 1, but Doyle's vivid, appalling account of the riot makes it hard to believe there weren't more.
Amid the madness there was also heroism. Doyle singles out for praise the U.S. marshals and, more surprisingly, the Mississippi National Guard, which was called out to support the marshals until Kennedy could decide whether to commit troops to the scene. These weekend soldiers did their duty despite being assaulted and vilified by their fellow Mississippians.
But the most heroic figure was James Meredith. Doyle's portrait of this strange, almost quixotically courageous man is one of the best things in the book. Meredith maintained a Zen-like composure through it all -- he is said to have slept through the riots taking place only a few hundred yards from the dormitory where he was guarded by a handful of marshals.
He was a civil rights movement of his own, never identifying himself with other leaders or organizations, and his later career was, to say the least, enigmatic. He was almost killed by a sniper in 1966 during a one-man march for voting rights in Mississippi, but in the years that followed he denounced integration as a ''sham;'' worked on the staff of Sen. Jesse Helms; opposed affirmative action, welfare and busing; and even announced his support for Klansman David Duke's run for governor of Louisiana. But as Mississippi civil rights leader Aaron Henry put it, ''If any of us has earned the right to be eccentric, Jim has.''
Doyle's book has its flaws: He likes to hammer home his points, telling us again and again that the killers of the two men who died in the riot were never caught. And the chaotic events make for chaotic narrative -- Doyle struggles to keep track of what was happening when, but doesn't always succeed. Still, it's as precise and evocative an account of the riot as you're likely to get: It wasn't filmed -- in 1962 TV news was not the force it would become later, and the few photojournalists who showed up had their cameras smashed quickly.
And the book is valuable in reminding us of an event that today seems to be largely forgotten. Even in 1962 it was overshadowed by the Cuban missile crisis a few weeks later. But it was one of the great turning points of the civil rights movement: If Mississippi could be desegregated, any place could.
The troops lingered in Oxford until the next summer. This worked a small hardship on my mother, who set out one day to do her shopping with a carton of Coke bottles in her car. (Those were the days of refillables.) But she had to stop at a checkpoint, where the bottles were confiscated as potential material for Molotov cocktails.
When I came back to the United States in August 1963, the troops were gone and the riot was already being forgotten. As I was going through customs in New York, the agent looked at my passport and said, ''You're from Mississippi?''
Uh-oh, I thought, self-consciously determined not to be identified with my home state's bigotry and bloodshed.
The agent continued, ''Then maybe you can answer this: Where does the Southern cross the Yellow Dog?''
He was a blues lover for whom Mississippi meant a railway crossing near Moorhead, celebrated by W.C. Handy.
History is, after all, a matter of point of view.
It was a tense summer: A black man, James Meredith, had applied for admission to the University of Mississippi, and the state tried every legal maneuver -- and some clearly illegal ones -- to prevent it. In May, I had graduated from the university, which is known as ''Ole Miss'' and is in Oxford, where I grew up. At the end of September, when I left for a year in Germany on a Fulbright grant, Meredith was about to enroll, and demons were about to be unleashed in the town.
The fictions that died that fall were white supremacy and state sovereignty. But it took a bloody riot and armed military intervention to kill them.
William Doyle's ''An American Insurrection'' is a compelling account of how the last battle of the Civil War came to be fought in my hometown. For what took place on the Ole Miss campus and in the town of Oxford in the first days of October 1962 was, as Doyle puts it, ''the biggest domestic military crisis of the 20th century.'' To end the disorder, the Kennedy administration deployed ''more soldiers than the United States had in Korea, and the peak troop strength of nearly fifteen thousand in the Oxford vicinity was three times more American troops than were stationed in West Berlin.''
Any reader of Faulkner knows how steeped Mississippi was in its own past, how white folks were caught up in tales of great-granddaddy marching off to Shiloh or Chickamauga. And that much of the state was mired in the kind of poverty that breeds the resentment, frustration, hatred and folly that Faulkner depicted. But I doubt that anyone realized how deadly the state could be until the riot happened.
Intelligent leadership, however, might have prevented it -- or even just leadership based on political cunning. The year after the Ole Miss riot, George Wallace would do what Doyle calls a ''carefully choreographed charade'' at the University of Alabama, blocking the ''schoolhouse door'' until forced to submit -- saving face and launching a national political career in the process.
But the Ole Miss disaster was the product of political indecision -- the ''dithering,'' as Doyle calls it, of John and Robert Kennedy and the utter ineptness of Mississippi's governor, Ross Barnett. To be fair to the Kennedys, they had no idea that Barnett was as dumb as a stump.
Barnett reminded my father of ''an old mud turtle,'' which with his thick neck and beaky nose Barnett surely resembled. But turtles have the sense to stay in their shells when threatened by things beyond their control. Barnett didn't.
The conversations between Barnett and the Kennedys that Doyle recounts -- available on the presidential tapes that were the subject of Doyle's earlier book, ''Inside the Oval Office'' -- show that Barnett wanted to do the kind of face-saving charade at which Wallace would be so successful a year later: a capitulation in the face of federal power, which would both allow Meredith to enter the university and make Barnett look like a martyr in the eyes of the segregationists. But Barnett couldn't make up his mind how far things should go until they had gone too far.
And they went too far on Saturday, Sept. 29, when Barnett made an appearance at the halftime of an Ole Miss football game. The crowd was already inflamed by the appearance of the world's largest Confederate flag, which was unfurled over the heads of the Ole Miss marching band. When Barnett ''strutted onto the field,'' Doyle writes, he was ''saturated with one of the most powerful crowd raptures ever given to an American politician.'' A witness remembers it as ''the way Nuremberg must have been!'' An unstoppable, tragic confrontation was under way.
My parents lived on the edge of town, and from the woods and fields behind the house, my mother recalled, strange men appeared throughout the following day, crossing our yard on their way to the campus. They were also arriving by car from as far away as California.
Imagine hundreds of Timothy McVeighs -- racist, anti-government fanatics -- blending with hormone-driven college kids, many of whom may have thought of the thing as just a big fraternity prank. Until it got out of hand, that is: Two people were killed in the night of Sept. 30 and morning of Oct. 1, but Doyle's vivid, appalling account of the riot makes it hard to believe there weren't more.
Amid the madness there was also heroism. Doyle singles out for praise the U.S. marshals and, more surprisingly, the Mississippi National Guard, which was called out to support the marshals until Kennedy could decide whether to commit troops to the scene. These weekend soldiers did their duty despite being assaulted and vilified by their fellow Mississippians.
But the most heroic figure was James Meredith. Doyle's portrait of this strange, almost quixotically courageous man is one of the best things in the book. Meredith maintained a Zen-like composure through it all -- he is said to have slept through the riots taking place only a few hundred yards from the dormitory where he was guarded by a handful of marshals.
He was a civil rights movement of his own, never identifying himself with other leaders or organizations, and his later career was, to say the least, enigmatic. He was almost killed by a sniper in 1966 during a one-man march for voting rights in Mississippi, but in the years that followed he denounced integration as a ''sham;'' worked on the staff of Sen. Jesse Helms; opposed affirmative action, welfare and busing; and even announced his support for Klansman David Duke's run for governor of Louisiana. But as Mississippi civil rights leader Aaron Henry put it, ''If any of us has earned the right to be eccentric, Jim has.''
Doyle's book has its flaws: He likes to hammer home his points, telling us again and again that the killers of the two men who died in the riot were never caught. And the chaotic events make for chaotic narrative -- Doyle struggles to keep track of what was happening when, but doesn't always succeed. Still, it's as precise and evocative an account of the riot as you're likely to get: It wasn't filmed -- in 1962 TV news was not the force it would become later, and the few photojournalists who showed up had their cameras smashed quickly.
And the book is valuable in reminding us of an event that today seems to be largely forgotten. Even in 1962 it was overshadowed by the Cuban missile crisis a few weeks later. But it was one of the great turning points of the civil rights movement: If Mississippi could be desegregated, any place could.
The troops lingered in Oxford until the next summer. This worked a small hardship on my mother, who set out one day to do her shopping with a carton of Coke bottles in her car. (Those were the days of refillables.) But she had to stop at a checkpoint, where the bottles were confiscated as potential material for Molotov cocktails.
When I came back to the United States in August 1963, the troops were gone and the riot was already being forgotten. As I was going through customs in New York, the agent looked at my passport and said, ''You're from Mississippi?''
Uh-oh, I thought, self-consciously determined not to be identified with my home state's bigotry and bloodshed.
The agent continued, ''Then maybe you can answer this: Where does the Southern cross the Yellow Dog?''
He was a blues lover for whom Mississippi meant a railway crossing near Moorhead, celebrated by W.C. Handy.
History is, after all, a matter of point of view.
March 8, 2012
An exciting book and a page turner, but I resist giving it four stars for one reason. I believed that Wm. Doyle was too infatuated with the subject, and while the book teems with historical nuggets I hadn't read elsewhere, his exultant descriptions of the "Battle of Oxford" seemed too over-the-top too often and detracted from my goal of just simply trying to learn what happened.
I appreciated his unflinching criticisms of all involved, even his treatment of James Meredith's life post-Battle of Oxford. Clearly, the Kennedy brothers were initially naive and out-witted by Gov. Ross Barnett, himself a racist fool who was so used to denying the truth to himself he could easily hide the truth from others.
Other treatments of this epoch failed to give proper credit to the damaging role of the Citizens' Council and here is one of Doyle's real contributions by relaying the devastating hold that Bill Simmons had on Governor Barnett.
Much of the book deals with the riot itself. For an understanding of the legal complexity of getting Meredith enrolled, read Russell Barrett's 1964 masterpiece Integration at Ole Miss.
I appreciated his unflinching criticisms of all involved, even his treatment of James Meredith's life post-Battle of Oxford. Clearly, the Kennedy brothers were initially naive and out-witted by Gov. Ross Barnett, himself a racist fool who was so used to denying the truth to himself he could easily hide the truth from others.
Other treatments of this epoch failed to give proper credit to the damaging role of the Citizens' Council and here is one of Doyle's real contributions by relaying the devastating hold that Bill Simmons had on Governor Barnett.
Much of the book deals with the riot itself. For an understanding of the legal complexity of getting Meredith enrolled, read Russell Barrett's 1964 masterpiece Integration at Ole Miss.
February 28, 2023
Well paced and very important story that I think has largely gone forgotten in terms of educating about the civil rights movement. But all of that is explained neatly in this book. I was gripped by the thoughts of people on both sides and wonder how much we have changed since 1962.
August 15, 2012
William Doyle’s An American Insurrection follows the conflict between the Kennedy brothers and Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett over the installation of black civil rights activist James Meredith into the University of Mississippi, as well as the resulting insurrection that forced President Kennedy to deploy troops in order to stop a battle between a small group of federal marshals and thousands of indignant racists. What I found most surprising about the facts introduced in the book is the degree to which integration of the university was fought against. The sheer number of rioters coming from as far away as California to massacre fellow Americans seems too horrifying to have actually occurred. The descriptions of rioters throwing everything from bricks dismantled from surrounding buildings to acid stolen from the on campus chemistry building were also shocking.
Reading this book has provided insight into the mind of a racist and what drove Mississippi to rebel. Many rioters had no objection to desegregation, but were inflamed by the invading federal government. The issue became centered on states’ rights rather than segregation in their eyes.
The author takes no sides in this book and reveals all characters both positively and negatively for their actions. He has no bias and provides a lot of depth to all areas of the event, even if at times he gets a little too drawn to the minor details that get emphasized more than they should.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the civil rights movement and want to learn about one of the lesser known historical events that many have attempted to bury and forget.
Reading this book has provided insight into the mind of a racist and what drove Mississippi to rebel. Many rioters had no objection to desegregation, but were inflamed by the invading federal government. The issue became centered on states’ rights rather than segregation in their eyes.
The author takes no sides in this book and reveals all characters both positively and negatively for their actions. He has no bias and provides a lot of depth to all areas of the event, even if at times he gets a little too drawn to the minor details that get emphasized more than they should.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the civil rights movement and want to learn about one of the lesser known historical events that many have attempted to bury and forget.
December 29, 2018
A detailed recounting of the bloody war over admitting the first black into Mississippi higher ed.
July 18, 2024
“An American Insurrection…” by William Doyle is a powerful account of a forgotten flashpoint of American history. These detailed and well researched tour-de-force is dripping with analysis and soul. I loved this book by Doyle and was astounded I’d never heard of the events inside before.
Let me tell you my education on integration of schools: Little Rock Nine happened, then every school was integrated. Surprisingly (not), the process was long, violent, and arduous. It took the effort of hundreds of lawyers and politicians alongside the guns of thousands of soldiers.
The US government did not step into the defense of African-American civil rights out of kindness. One brilliant strategist used the party platform to force the President to back his words up. What followed was the greatest use of military force in the United States since the Civil War.
Doyle’s book is exceptionally well researched. Not only is there a robust works cited and index, but many of the documents acquired were from FOIA requests by the author himself. Additionally, he did a lot of work to get comments on these individuals almost 40 years after these events. This is no small effort and I want to give a strong commendation to William Doyle. This is such an important event to have been forgotten by the American consciousness, I greatly respect Doyle’s efforts to bring it to light.
The author does a grand job of balancing all this information in a clear and concise timeline. He makes sure the players are known from the outset. It starts to get bogged down a bit by all the troop companies and sergeants, but that’s more due to the number of them over anything else.
Doyle punctuates his story with the occasional prose. Smoky scenes of Ole Miss intermingle with established history to create a battlefield of myth. Doyle uses the Civil War and other local events of the South to reinforce the apartheid society that existed, to great effect. His beautiful description and deep analysis are great supporters to an already powerfully informative book.
I couldn’t think of a problem I had with “An American Insurrection”. It was educational, fun to read, and thrilling. James Meredith is an exceptional person, but one of many in the grand drama that played out. More importantly, the effort to scrub this event from American history is the same force that we see in our politics today. A cleansing white washing to forget our sins - something James Meredith and William Doyle would never let happen. 5/5, would recommend to anyone who loves learning about American history.
Let me tell you my education on integration of schools: Little Rock Nine happened, then every school was integrated. Surprisingly (not), the process was long, violent, and arduous. It took the effort of hundreds of lawyers and politicians alongside the guns of thousands of soldiers.
The US government did not step into the defense of African-American civil rights out of kindness. One brilliant strategist used the party platform to force the President to back his words up. What followed was the greatest use of military force in the United States since the Civil War.
Doyle’s book is exceptionally well researched. Not only is there a robust works cited and index, but many of the documents acquired were from FOIA requests by the author himself. Additionally, he did a lot of work to get comments on these individuals almost 40 years after these events. This is no small effort and I want to give a strong commendation to William Doyle. This is such an important event to have been forgotten by the American consciousness, I greatly respect Doyle’s efforts to bring it to light.
The author does a grand job of balancing all this information in a clear and concise timeline. He makes sure the players are known from the outset. It starts to get bogged down a bit by all the troop companies and sergeants, but that’s more due to the number of them over anything else.
Doyle punctuates his story with the occasional prose. Smoky scenes of Ole Miss intermingle with established history to create a battlefield of myth. Doyle uses the Civil War and other local events of the South to reinforce the apartheid society that existed, to great effect. His beautiful description and deep analysis are great supporters to an already powerfully informative book.
I couldn’t think of a problem I had with “An American Insurrection”. It was educational, fun to read, and thrilling. James Meredith is an exceptional person, but one of many in the grand drama that played out. More importantly, the effort to scrub this event from American history is the same force that we see in our politics today. A cleansing white washing to forget our sins - something James Meredith and William Doyle would never let happen. 5/5, would recommend to anyone who loves learning about American history.
November 26, 2021
James Meredith was a man with a plan. A plan to force the Kennedy Administration to back up it’s rhetoric on civil rights, with force if necessary. It worked.
While Meredith cannot be criticized for a lack of courage, some saw his stand as grounded in a lack of comprehension of reality.
The resistance that the Federal government faced was far worse, and in some ways, more widespread than anticipated. In addition to the rioters already at the “Ole Miss” campus who clashed with Federal Marshals and US Army soldiers, visitors from several states in the union drove to Oxford to join the fight against the Federal government.
The entire force to send to subdue the insurrection at Oxford Mississippi ended up being about 31,000 troops and 300 Federal Marshals.
William Doyle is keen to show that many of those sent protect Meredith and his rights were far from true believers in their mission.
According to one Federal Marshal from Alabama “There’s nothing more I hate than seeing that n***** going to school here. But that was my job”.
When the Marshal’s perimeter at Ole Miss was in danger of being overwhelmed by rioters, The first troops to come to their aid were from the Mississippi National Guard. The Guardsmen had just been federalized and despite their personal misgivings about their mission, they helped the Marshals hold the line until the arrival of regular Army troops.
This story has many heroes, some of which may actually be on the side of the segregationists. It also imparts an important historical lesson; that the most noble of missions are sometimes carried out by people who may not be the most noble in character.
While Meredith cannot be criticized for a lack of courage, some saw his stand as grounded in a lack of comprehension of reality.
The resistance that the Federal government faced was far worse, and in some ways, more widespread than anticipated. In addition to the rioters already at the “Ole Miss” campus who clashed with Federal Marshals and US Army soldiers, visitors from several states in the union drove to Oxford to join the fight against the Federal government.
The entire force to send to subdue the insurrection at Oxford Mississippi ended up being about 31,000 troops and 300 Federal Marshals.
William Doyle is keen to show that many of those sent protect Meredith and his rights were far from true believers in their mission.
According to one Federal Marshal from Alabama “There’s nothing more I hate than seeing that n***** going to school here. But that was my job”.
When the Marshal’s perimeter at Ole Miss was in danger of being overwhelmed by rioters, The first troops to come to their aid were from the Mississippi National Guard. The Guardsmen had just been federalized and despite their personal misgivings about their mission, they helped the Marshals hold the line until the arrival of regular Army troops.
This story has many heroes, some of which may actually be on the side of the segregationists. It also imparts an important historical lesson; that the most noble of missions are sometimes carried out by people who may not be the most noble in character.
July 15, 2025
There’s something chilling about this book’s title—An American Insurrection—especially in the shadow of January 6th. At first glance, it could just as easily be describing the blood-streaked halls of the U.S. Capitol, echoing with Confederate chants and white rage. But William Doyle isn’t writing about 2021. He’s pulling us back to 1962—to Oxford, Mississippi—where another mob, another banner, and another violent insurrection rose up to defy the United States Constitution.
This book is a mirror with a long memory.
James Meredith wanted what should never have required federal troops: to attend a public university as a U.S. citizen. What followed was a modern-day battlefield—a siege fueled by hate, ignorance, and a toxic blend of state power and vigilante violence. The streets turned to smoke and blood as American citizens, drunk on delusion, aimed rifles at federal marshals under the full sanction of local government.
Reading this book is hard. The racism isn’t subtle. It’s searing, loud, and naked. The slurs are not softened. The cruelty is not hidden. That makes it important.
This isn’t just history—it’s diagnosis. America did not reckon honestly with its sickness after the Civil War. It patched the wound and moved on, but never cleaned the infection. And that infection festers. You see it waving flags at the Capitol. You see it shouting “take our country back.” You hear it in the same accents, see it in the same faces, smell the same entitlement.
Doyle’s work is meticulously documented, but never cold. There’s real pain in these pages. Rage. Grief. Truth. He reconstructs a moment this nation tested itself—and reveals how fragile progress remains when evil wears a flag and calls itself tradition.
This is not an easy book. But it is essential. It tells the truth when most would rather forget.
Read this book. Then look around. Ask yourself if the insurrection ever really ended—or if it simply changed costumes. We are not past this. We are in it.
This book is a mirror with a long memory.
James Meredith wanted what should never have required federal troops: to attend a public university as a U.S. citizen. What followed was a modern-day battlefield—a siege fueled by hate, ignorance, and a toxic blend of state power and vigilante violence. The streets turned to smoke and blood as American citizens, drunk on delusion, aimed rifles at federal marshals under the full sanction of local government.
Reading this book is hard. The racism isn’t subtle. It’s searing, loud, and naked. The slurs are not softened. The cruelty is not hidden. That makes it important.
This isn’t just history—it’s diagnosis. America did not reckon honestly with its sickness after the Civil War. It patched the wound and moved on, but never cleaned the infection. And that infection festers. You see it waving flags at the Capitol. You see it shouting “take our country back.” You hear it in the same accents, see it in the same faces, smell the same entitlement.
Doyle’s work is meticulously documented, but never cold. There’s real pain in these pages. Rage. Grief. Truth. He reconstructs a moment this nation tested itself—and reveals how fragile progress remains when evil wears a flag and calls itself tradition.
This is not an easy book. But it is essential. It tells the truth when most would rather forget.
Read this book. Then look around. Ask yourself if the insurrection ever really ended—or if it simply changed costumes. We are not past this. We are in it.
May 3, 2018
This is an accessible, compelling, and powerful narrative of James Meredith’s battle to enroll in the University of Mississippi and how it became a literal battle after he won in the federal courts and the governor of Mississippi tried to finesse the situation to his advantage and failed, and the Kennedy brothers repeatedly misread the governor.
June 10, 2025
Gripping and accessible narative that takes the reader through almost every hour of the insurrection. Really well written. Doyle presents some quality biographical details on the main characters in the story and weaves the narrative in with the broader history of the time and even some of the threads that weave back to the Civil War. Masterful book ... beautifully written.
October 6, 2017
Pretty incredible read, especially if you want to understand each and every detail and subsequent rabbit trail of JHM's integration. Thank you, William Doyle.
April 27, 2021
Almost unbelievable. Tragic. Embarrassing. Strangely laughable at times. All because James Meredith wanted to be first black man to enroll at Ole Miss in 1962.
December 26, 2014
I really enjoyed this book! It was well written and nicely laid out, I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded. This author did a really good job of laying out the chaotic events in the fall of 1962 in a way that is easy to follow as well as intriguing and enjoyable. It was a great read!!
Being from around Oxford, Mississippi and an Ole Miss alumni, I had always heard whispers about the integration of the University, but Doyle isn't kidding when he says that the community has done it best to hush-up and ignore this bit of history. When it is mentioned, its always downplayed as not that big a deal. Even when the University put up a statue honoring James Meredith in 2008, there still was not discussion about the riots, protests and severe injuries/deaths. So it was VERY enlightening to read this thorough account on the Rebellion of Oxford, MS.
I would highly recommend this book to: All Ole Miss Alumni, Everyone from Lafayette County, MS, Everyone from Mississippi, Anyone interested in Civil Rights history, and anyone who likes stories about heroes
Being from around Oxford, Mississippi and an Ole Miss alumni, I had always heard whispers about the integration of the University, but Doyle isn't kidding when he says that the community has done it best to hush-up and ignore this bit of history. When it is mentioned, its always downplayed as not that big a deal. Even when the University put up a statue honoring James Meredith in 2008, there still was not discussion about the riots, protests and severe injuries/deaths. So it was VERY enlightening to read this thorough account on the Rebellion of Oxford, MS.
I would highly recommend this book to: All Ole Miss Alumni, Everyone from Lafayette County, MS, Everyone from Mississippi, Anyone interested in Civil Rights history, and anyone who likes stories about heroes
December 13, 2009
This book is a tremendous achievement in reporting. Doyle's thoroughness is mindblowing, particularly since he manages to go into so much detail without turning it into a textbook. It's full of fascinating history about Mississippi, the postwar South generally, and the civil rights era, but is also a gripping story of a few days in which 30,000 troops were deployed in an American city and we came surprisingly close to a new secessionist conflict. Everyone learns about certain moments from the civil rights era - Bull Connor in Birmingham, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock Nine, etc. - and after reading this book it's hard to believe how little play the Oxford riots get in comparison.
September 18, 2015
A fascinating book describing James Meredith registering as the first African-American at the University of Mississippi in 1962. It described Meredith's efforts and what happened on campus and the constitutional crisis of the times. It was riveting to see the events unfold decades ago and compare it to events that resurfaced this past summer with the historic event that occurred at South Carolina Capital and the recent Supreme Court decision that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
A must read for people who are interested in history, civil rights, and want to expand their horizons.
A must read for people who are interested in history, civil rights, and want to expand their horizons.
January 16, 2009
If you're part of the Ole Miss family, please read this book. The events surrounding James Meredith's admission to Ole Miss are among the most forgotten chapters in 20th century US history and William Doyle deserves credit for writing a gripping and faithful account of the Battle of Oxford. It helped me appreciate how far we've come since the 60s and made me realize that we have much further to go. It also yields some wonderful insights into civil rights history building up to Meredith's admission, his skill in gaining federal government support, and the power of mob psychology. Enjoy!
November 13, 2015
I was born and raised in Mississippi and thought I had learned about James Meredith during high school. As it turns out, I only learned very basic facts and had no idea of the scope of events that swirled around Meredith's admission to Ole Miss.
Doyle, the author, brings together a massive amount of information from multiple sources and weaves it together to form a coherent and intriguing story. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Civil Rights movement of the 60's in the Deep South.
Doyle, the author, brings together a massive amount of information from multiple sources and weaves it together to form a coherent and intriguing story. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Civil Rights movement of the 60's in the Deep South.
March 24, 2008
Superbly written history of the last battle of the Civil War, in Oxford, Mississippi in 1962. The trigger was the attempt by James Meredith to enroll in the University of Mississippi, which precipitated a riot encouraged by then Governor Ross Barnett and directed (in part) by retired U.S. Army General Edwin Walker. The riot produced some unlikely heros: a UM football player and an Episcopal priest, and resultd in two deaths. It could have been much worse.
May 24, 2016
An incredible read, just unbelievable. The direct quotes and startling actions of individual people, who eventually become a mob are very surprising. There's a lot of detail but it's all very interesting as you get to walk through an emerging crisis step-by-step, both in Washington and Mississippi. An important stand that may very well have emboldened larger action by other civil rights participants... and I didn't know about it! An easy read.
July 13, 2010
This really deserves a 4.5 star rating and I'm even tempted to give it a 5. It is such an interesting story about an event that shaped American history. Well researched, well written, completely engrossing, but bogged a bit with detail. I recommend it to everyone and will be spouting off about it for awhile.
July 27, 2011
A very good book about James Meredith and his attempt to integrate Ole Miss. Doyle gets bogged down in details at times, but that's my only criticism. It probably helps to know a little about the Ole Miss campus and the town of Oxford to envision the development of the confrontation; there's a handy map at the front in case you aren't, though.
September 19, 2023
This is, quite simply, an amazing book. Filled with historical information, but reads like a thrilling novel. Akin to "Hellhound On My Trail" in that you find yourself unable to put it down wanting to see what happens next - even though you largely already know (spoiler alert - Meredith is eventually enrolled). Read it, you'll be happy you did.
April 9, 2008
clunky, but interesting
February 7, 2009
A great and detailed narrative. Interesting to read around the same time as "Racebeat".
July 14, 2010
Excellent--should be mandatory reading for high school
August 29, 2010
a Must Read
February 26, 2011
Hard to read as a Southerner but well worth the read. And interesting that the author tells it straight without glorifying or vilifying anyone.
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