Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege
The former mayor of Charlottesville delivers a vivid, first-person chronicle of the terror and mayhem of the August 2017 "Unite the Right" event, and shows how issues of extremism are affecting not just one city but the nation itself.

The deadly invasion of Charlottesville, Virginia, by white nationalist militias in August 2017 is a microcosm of the challenges facing American democracy today. In his first-person account of one of recent American history's most polarizing events, Michael Signer, then Charlottesville's mayor, both tells the story of what really happened and draws out its larger significance.


Signer's gripping, strikingly candid "you are there" narrative sets the events on the ground-the lead-up to August's "Unite the Right" rally, the days of the weekend itself, the aftermath-in the larger context of a country struggling to find its way in a disruptive new era. He confronts some of the most challenging questions of our moment, namely how can we:
  • Reconcile free speech with the need for public order?
  • Maintain the values of pragmatism, compromise, even simple civility, in a time of intensification of extremes on the right and the left?
  • Address systemic racism through our public spaces and memorials?
  • Provide accountability after a crisis?



While Signer shows how easily our communities can be taken hostage by forces intent on destroying democratic norms and institutions, he concludes with a stirring call for optimism, revealing how the tragic events of Charlottesville are also bolstering American democracy from within.
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Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege
The former mayor of Charlottesville delivers a vivid, first-person chronicle of the terror and mayhem of the August 2017 "Unite the Right" event, and shows how issues of extremism are affecting not just one city but the nation itself.

The deadly invasion of Charlottesville, Virginia, by white nationalist militias in August 2017 is a microcosm of the challenges facing American democracy today. In his first-person account of one of recent American history's most polarizing events, Michael Signer, then Charlottesville's mayor, both tells the story of what really happened and draws out its larger significance.


Signer's gripping, strikingly candid "you are there" narrative sets the events on the ground-the lead-up to August's "Unite the Right" rally, the days of the weekend itself, the aftermath-in the larger context of a country struggling to find its way in a disruptive new era. He confronts some of the most challenging questions of our moment, namely how can we:
  • Reconcile free speech with the need for public order?
  • Maintain the values of pragmatism, compromise, even simple civility, in a time of intensification of extremes on the right and the left?
  • Address systemic racism through our public spaces and memorials?
  • Provide accountability after a crisis?



While Signer shows how easily our communities can be taken hostage by forces intent on destroying democratic norms and institutions, he concludes with a stirring call for optimism, revealing how the tragic events of Charlottesville are also bolstering American democracy from within.
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Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege

Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege

by Michael Signer
Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege

Cry Havoc: Charlottesville and American Democracy Under Siege

by Michael Signer

Hardcover

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Overview

The former mayor of Charlottesville delivers a vivid, first-person chronicle of the terror and mayhem of the August 2017 "Unite the Right" event, and shows how issues of extremism are affecting not just one city but the nation itself.

The deadly invasion of Charlottesville, Virginia, by white nationalist militias in August 2017 is a microcosm of the challenges facing American democracy today. In his first-person account of one of recent American history's most polarizing events, Michael Signer, then Charlottesville's mayor, both tells the story of what really happened and draws out its larger significance.


Signer's gripping, strikingly candid "you are there" narrative sets the events on the ground-the lead-up to August's "Unite the Right" rally, the days of the weekend itself, the aftermath-in the larger context of a country struggling to find its way in a disruptive new era. He confronts some of the most challenging questions of our moment, namely how can we:
  • Reconcile free speech with the need for public order?
  • Maintain the values of pragmatism, compromise, even simple civility, in a time of intensification of extremes on the right and the left?
  • Address systemic racism through our public spaces and memorials?
  • Provide accountability after a crisis?



While Signer shows how easily our communities can be taken hostage by forces intent on destroying democratic norms and institutions, he concludes with a stirring call for optimism, revealing how the tragic events of Charlottesville are also bolstering American democracy from within.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781541736153
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication date: 03/10/2020
Pages: 400
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

The Hon. Michael Signer, mayor of Charlottesville from 2016-2018, is the author of Demagogue: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies and Becoming Madison: The Extraordinary Origins of the Least Likely Founding Father.


A public scholar, practicing attorney, and executive, Dr. Signer has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and Time, and has been interviewed by Meet the Press, Face the Nation, and NPR. He has been profiled by the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN, and has received awards from such organizations as the Anti-Defamation League and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Table of Contents

Major Characters xiii

Part I Civility

Introduction: Winter in Summer 3

1 The Hook 14

2 "Simply Because There's Passion" (January 2016) 21

3 "Is Mike Your Daddy?" (February 2016) 30

4 Race, Policy, and the Past (March 2016) 35

5 "Broaden the Aperture" (April 2016) 51

6 Changing the Narrative (Sway 2016) 54

7 "Hell Signer" (June 2016) 57

8 "Have You Even Read the Us Constitution?" (July 2016) 62

9 "To Un-Erase This History" (August 2016) 65

Part II In Extremis

10 Transactional or Transformational? (September 2016) 71

11 "We Will Build This World from Love" (October 2016) 75

12 Dizzying and Despondent (November 2016) 78

13 "It's an Issue of Right and Wrong, Sir" (December 2016) 84

14 "You Gotta Get Me Out of This" (January 2017) 88

15 Grenade Game (February 2017) 103

16 "Disturbance or Removal" (March 2017) 111

17 "Our Mayor is a Neo-Fascist" (April 2017) 113

Part II The Summer of Hate

18 "That Day We Finish Them All Off" (May 2017) 119

19 "Don't Take the Bait" (Juke 2017) 135

20 "Sailing into the Windstorm" (July 2017) 149

Part IV Firestorm

21 Domestic Terrorism (August 2017) 185

Part V Afterburn

22 "Donald Trump Is God!" (September 2017) 263

23 Flash Mob (October 2017) 269

24 "Unmask the Illusion" (November 2017) 277

25 "Like Talking to a Brick Wall" (December 2017) 282

26 The Crucible (2018) 291

27 Overcoming Extremism 320

Conclusion 333

Acknowledgments 337

Notes 341

Index 361

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