Charlottesville

”[Baker] shows how coordinated resistance against white supremacists both can work and will be required again in the coming years. A vivid account that capably illuminates the evils half-hidden under a flickering torch.”–Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Captivating… . [Charlottesville] brings history and current events into illuminating dialogue.”–Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Baker, a historian and essayist, brings storytelling and a compelling cast of characters to her attempt to make meaning of what happened in Charlottesville… . [Her] narrative is dedicated to the activists and counterprotesters, as well as to the sheer necessity of showing up even when (or especially because) the threat of fascist violence was so great.”–Aniko Bodroghkozy, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Brilliant, heartbreaking, and incredibly well-researched… . Charlottesville: An American Story is not exactly a hopeful story, but it is one that refuses to let hate win. And that’s the version of this country I still want to believe in.”–Sara Best West, Southern Review of Books

“Baker’s research and eye for detail give Charlottesville the historical authority necessary for understanding the tragic events that occurred over those two days.”–Andrew DeMillo, Associated Press

“The result is not merely smart but shattering. [Charlottesville] joins the ranks of some of the best American nonfiction in recent years … as testimony to events we’d be unwise to forget.”–Lily Meyer, The New Republic

“A deeply researched, and deeply felt, portrait of contemporary America.”–The New York Times

“Baker’s vividly detailed reconstruction is a worthwhile addition to a growing canon of narrative nonfiction aimed at documenting and interpreting the outburst of race- and hate-driven violence in America.”–Kevin Sack, The New York Times Book Review

“Charlottesville comprehensively demonstrates how internet hatemongering and gun ubiquity are endangering pluralism, civic participation and good-faith debate… . As described by Baker, the events couldn’t be timelier.”–Kevin Canfield, Minnesota Star Tribune

“Considering Charlottesville, are we looking into a mirror? An abyss? Answers are elusive, but Baker expertly limns prevailing anxieties. As she quotes one witness, ‘America is Charlottesville now.’”–Brendan Driscoll, Booklist

“In Charlottesville, the brilliant biographer Deborah Baker turns her deep understanding of character and her researcher’s eye to her hometown and the horrible events that unfolded there as fascism marched–and murdered–in August 2017. Baker offers us a new way of understanding the threat of the far right by surrounding it, in this heart-stopping and heartbreaking narrative, with a rich and complex story of how the everyday people of a small city fought for justice long before the tiki torches blazed. Charlottesville is essential history, reportage, and maybe how-to for all who care for that struggle.”–Jeff Sharlet, NYT bestselling author of The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War

“No work of nonfiction I have read over the past decade has moved me as much as Charlottesville. Seldom has one place and time come to stand so hauntingly for a country on the precipice of catastrophe. With the precision of a master pointillist painter, Deborah Baker puts human faces on the buried truths that imperil American democracy while also amplifying the unheeded voices of the kind of unsung citizens who may yet save it. A must-read feat of spellbinding storytelling that packs the power of prophetic truth.”–Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America

“No one has explained the struggle for contemporary America’s soul as masterfully as Deborah Baker does in Charlottesville. Whether she’s depicting the battles of ordinary citizens against provocateurs in the street or the pentimento effect of the past in the present, Baker puts her readers right there, on the spot. A family tragedy, a ghost story and a political thriller all at once, this book is a gripping and terrifying portrait of our time.”–Deborah Cohen, author of Last Call at the Hotel Imperial

“Riveting and important reading.”–Literary Hub, “Most Anticipated Books of 2026”

“Deborah Baker’s Charlottesville: An American Story is an in-depth, forensic, and panoramic view of the long road to the Unite the Right rally. Through meticulous detective work and journalistic narrative, Baker shows us that the effort to unite the right goes back decades.”–José Sanchez, The Nation

Praise for Deborah Baker

”[Baker] keeps the big events always in view, dramatizing and humanizing the workings of history…in a way a novelist would–by making it a story of individuals.”–The Wall Street Journal

“Baker writes beautifully, and she’s done ample research….She crafts memorable portraits of dynamic, flawed men and women.”–San Francisco Chronicle

Deborah Baker is the author of A Blue Hand and The Last Englishmen. Her biography In Extremis was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and her book The Convert was a finalist for the National Book Award. She lives in New York and Charlottesville.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.