The Temple Bombing

On October 12, 1958, the Reform Jewish synagogue in Atlanta exploded when 50 sticks of dynamite detonated. A key moment in Civil Rights history, as telling in its way as Rosa Parks's refusal to change bus seats. This volume looks back on this pivotal event, creating a picture of a city, a region, and indeed a country on the cusp of monumental change. It was an era of almost totalitarian thought in the South. Dissent had been silenced by terror. The lunatic fringe was allowed to respond to Brown versus Board of Education, while the moderate majority was afraid to speak. Into the the breach stepped an unlikely hero, Jacob Rothschild, a young rabbi who had returned from World War II to lead the oldest and most prominent synagogue in Atlanta. Rothschild was one of a handful of whites of his generation with the courage to speak up for racial justice. This book weaves together the stories of white supremacists, the privileged white community, the black community, and the Jewish community.