Good scholarship on an important topic. For me personally, the recounting of one instance of violence after another began to leave me almost numb to the atrocities after a few chapters. I found myself craving a greater proportion of analysis and commentary, and/or a deeper dive into a smaller collection of Black families' experiences. Put another way, I wished I could know the targeted people more intimately, rather than as a blur of casualties of white violence. As a result, I engaged intellectually much more than emotionally with this book. Even so, this is vital reading for an understanding of race relations in America.

Worth all the advance praise heaped on it. Compelling, eye opening and really raw. This book is gonna be something, and I’m excited to see it debut.

I knew before I opened this one that it would be incredibly powerful. The Reconstruction is such a neglected era of history, and Williams does amazing work pulling the stories from the sources. A hard read but a must read.

Thanks to NetGalley for advanced copy. Really interesting and good read about this time in US history. So much promise and so much fail. Loved reading about the time from perspective of those who had lost so much and were promised so much.

I Saw Death Coming is a deep dive into a little-explored part of American history: the government's failure of enforcement of Reconstruction-era laws and policies, and the impact of that failure on Black families. Kidada E. Williams's research here is impeccable, and while I believe this text will be an invaluable resource for teaching history, as I read it I found myself reflecting on the ways history echoes. In many ways, this shameful era in American history has never truly ended; current voter suppression measures, police brutality, and laws/policies across the nation banning the teaching of any curriculum connected to race are the lingering legacy of Reconstruction's failures.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this incredible, vital work.

Starting things off, the reader gets a chilling introduction to the Klan who goes after a Black man, Edward Crosby. Even though they don't find his hiding place, the incident frightened him and his family because Edward knew this was not an isolated incident, and that the Klan would return. Formed in Tennessee in 1866 and mostly comprised of ex-Confederate white soldiers, the 'social clubs' that wore masks and costumes got their name from the Greek work kyklos (circle) for the Ku Klux part. They roamed, armed with weapons, through communities, "in the middle of the night conducting paramilitary strikes on Black and white southerners."

White landowners in the area were not happy about the Black majority where Edward and others lived, and in the antebellum period, used extreme levels of violence to control them as enslavers. The author then discusses other harmful systems such as sharecropping and tenant farming. Edward and other Black community members in Montro County tried to vote for progressive candidates in 187, but faced "menacing opposition" from whites who insisted that the Black community member had to vote for white conservative candidates through coercion and intimidation.

Emancipation was more than freedom, the right to vote, or legal equality, but also about family and community. When Edward asked for the Republican ballot, he was refused, and so were the dozens of other Black men who came to the polling place. In frustration and fear, Edward planned to relocate. Many others who received such "visits" from the Klan ended up with far more brutalized and violent fates.

As the author states in her introduction, "I Saw Death Coming" seeks to 'immerse readers in the immediacy of Black people's collective experience of living through the war _after_ the Civil War."

Far from being simply a testament and witness to the violence and atrocities committed against Black communities in the aftermath of the Civil War, "I Saw Death Coming" provides more context and nuance to build an overall picture of social conditions and life. It also deals with diseases, pregnancies, physical health, and other unique challenges of the era.

The book also discusses the response of lawmakers to these crimes and human rights violations, as well as other legal enforcement agencies, and as the reader may expect, the systemic biases and racism that proliferated at those times continue, albeit in a more veiled, insidious way where in the past it was more likely to have been outright.

"I Saw Death Coming" is an essential volume for anyone seeking to understand more about the Reconstruction Era and the disproportionate violence suffered by African Americans as well as questions of how to leave home to avoid such dangers, mixed with social and communal ties of families as well as their abilities to receive support. The diminishment of what survivors went through, or in many cases outright dismissal of their experiences, is something that still reverberates and continues to today, which is horrendous.

I Saw Death Coming is a close look at the violence Black families faced under the failure of the government to enforce policies during Reconstruction. Williams does a fantastic job interweaving several families’ experiences with context of the political and social time period. I Saw Death Coming was, overall, an engaging read that reminded me both of Carol Anderson and Svetlana Alexievich’s writing. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in reading about Reconstruction. Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

In essence, the loss of the Civil War, the 1866 Civil Rights Act, and the social, political, and political protections and freedoms guaranteed to freedmen via the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments infuriated Southern Whites to the point they reported to extreme violence, maiming and assassinations/murder to control the Black majority relegating them to slavery-era conditions. Social and legal equality and political power proved to be elusive to most Blacks during Reconstruction in the South (even in areas where freedmen vastly outnumbered White citizens). Reconstruction and all its promises and programs were resisted and foiled by Southern Whites; as much as Blacks fought for their rights, Whites were galvanized against it – in many ways, a war - a War on Freedom continued.

This novel contains fact-based, well-documented, and corroborated first person accounts of the intimidation, injustice and lawlessness inflicted upon freedmen, their families, and communities in their pursuit to exercise their rights to own property, vote, etc. I particularly marveled at the tactics White Southerners used to dispel and misconstrue these eye-witness accounts and justify of their atrocious actions – tactics such as deflection, self-defense, voter repression, and protection of “their” rights (while blatantly suppressing the rights of others) still in use today. I admired the strength and determination that Blacks mustered to live through Ku Klux Klan raids, constant fear, trepidation, and consternation; but most of all the bravery and perseverance of the survivors to tell their stories many knowing that harsh repercussions could ensue). Their stories are heartbreaking.

I found this collection carefully crafted. For example, the author gives context to the political happenings and social climate of the period in layman’s terms which makes it very easy to read and comprehend. Another example is in many instances, the author gave background information about the affected families - their talents, their dreams, their ingenuity and willingness to work and hustle hard to secure their future for themselves and invest for future generations. They were poised to do well, to succeed…all they wanted was the opportunity to try. Instead so much was destroyed out of hate and spite – these accounts were heart-breaking. I questioned why, but I know the answers. I wonder if their present day descendants are aware of their family histories, of what their ancestors’ endured. As painful as some of the passages were to read; these stories need to be retained, taught, and treasured.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to review in exchange for an honest review.

The first chapter of I Saw Death Coming provides a lot of context. The book goes on to reconstruct events for several black families during the era of Reconstruction. There are several instances of violence done against black Americans, many very similar to each other. These night rides, organized by the KKK against newly freed, former enslaved people, shows just how systemic and institutionalized violence towards black Americans were. However, her claims of genocide needed more forceful defending. It wasn't consistently applied throughout the book, nor was it very clear there was some program to exterminate all African American citizens in the south.

This was a wonderful book about a subject that is often ignored, the Reconstruction after the Cvil WAr. This book was well presented and written.