Soul City

Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia

By: Thomas Healy

Narrated by: Larry Herron

The fascinating, forgotten story of the 1970s attempt to build a city dedicated to racial equality in the heart of “Klan Country”.

In 1969, with America’s cities in turmoil and racial tensions high, civil rights leader Floyd McKissick announced an audacious plan: He would build a new city in rural North Carolina, open to all but intended primarily to benefit Black people. Named Soul City, the community secured funding from the Nixon administration, planning help from Harvard and the University of North Carolina, and endorsements from The New York Times and the Today show. Before long, the brand-new settlement - built on a former slave plantation - had roads, houses, a health-care center, and an industrial plant. By the year 2000, projections said, Soul City would have 50,000 residents.

But the utopian vision was not to be. The race-baiting Jesse Helms, newly elected as senator from North Carolina, swore to stop government spending on the project. Meanwhile, the liberal Raleigh News & Observer mistakenly claimed fraud and corruption in the construction effort. Battered from the left and the right, Soul City was shut down after just a decade. Today, it is a ghost town - and its industrial plant, erected to promote Black economic freedom, has been converted into a prison.

In a gripping, poignant narrative, acclaimed author Thomas Healy resurrects this forgotten saga of race, capitalism, and the struggle for equality. Was it an impossible dream from the beginning? Or a brilliant idea thwarted by prejudice and ignorance? And how might America be different today if Soul City had been allowed to succeed?

A Macmillan Audio production from Metropolitan Books

©2021 Thomas Healy (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Fascinating Exploration of an Under-told Story

Impressively detailed, particularly the development of lead characters, exploration of this fascinating yet little known early experiment in equity. With clear language, punctuated with powerful visuals. Published before BLM took center stage, and in that respect was ahead of the times. Also an inspiring insight into the bold heroic visionaries that attempted to make a reality the full promise of the civil rights movement.

awesome narrator

the story was intriguing and so complex. I really enjoyed the performance of the narrator as well

Soul of a city

The book was informational / journalistic but lacked soul in the shaping of the narrative. There were several fascinating human stories that were unfortunately glossed over in favor of the devilish details of what made this place sure to fail. Any "wins" or glimmers of hope were clouded with the writer's own bias and sprinkling of unwanted analysis throughout. While I do appreciate its attempt at being more fair than past journalists that played a part in torpedoing the venture, I really would have preferred experiencing Soul City through a lens that brought us more intimately into the daily lives of folks, who dared to dream a dream that in many ways still lives on.