Reprinting of a Story Worth Retelling | The Temple Bombing

Good Book, Wrong Title | The Temple Bombing | Melissa Fay Greene

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	• The Temple Bombing Melissa Fay Greene Da Capo Press, 2006 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Greene is a writer of skill and depth

I picked this book up in a Boston bookstore a few years ago while attending a National Abortion Federation meeting. The title attracted me, as I was attending my first national abortion rights organization conference of abortion providers and was astounded by the level of fear and anxiety that I sensed among my compatriots. It has been said that the true test of courage is not in doing what needs to be done without fear, but is in continuing to do so even in the face of great fear. If this is in deed true, my colleagues in the National Abortion Federation must be among the most courageous people in the world. Many of those whom I met there had endured years of threat and ostracism, of attacks both verbal and physical, and most knew clinic workers and abortion providers who had been maimed or murdered or whose facilities had been bombed and burned. And they continued their work even in the face of continuing threats to themselves, their families and their coworkers. So Greene's book title was a magnet for me, pulling me in although I had never heard of Ms Greene or the Reform Temple bombing. (I was in the Navy, serving in the Pacific when this incident occured and must never have seen any news reference to it. I was perhaps much more attuned to the events in Arkansas in the 50's, and never had heard of it until I read Ms. Greene's account.) The Temple Bombing is a masterwork by a master story teller, and although the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory in that the perpetrators were never caught and punished for their part in this heinous terrorist act - some of whom probably went on to other deeds even more evil like the the bombing of the Church in Birmingham which killed the four little girls - this is the way history played out in the South. Much as many of us would like to change it. Ms Greene has written a fine book with a truly heroic protagonist sympathetically and sensitively portrayed, and has given us a vision of an Atlanta and a time which long ago ceased to exist. For movie buffs, the temple bombed was that depicted in the wonderful movie, Driving Miss Daisy.

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Reprinting of a Story Worth Retelling

In 1954 the Supreme Court acted where Congress was afraid and began the process of integrating the races in the United States. It was clearly an idea whose time had come, as proven by the legislation that was passed in the years following the basic decision.

But before that could happen there had to be a spate of violence against the decision. This book describes the bombing of the Temple in Atlanta on Sunday Morning, October 12, 1958. While a horrific incident in its own right, this has not lasted as one of the major icons of the civil rights struggle.

In the hands of Mellissa Fay Green, the incident is the starting point of this book which is a report on the early days of the resistance to the struggle. Her book reads almost like it is a crime novel. It's well written, the characters are developed so that you understand them - not necessarily like them, but understand them.

Recently reprinted this is a book telling a story that is worth understanding today as much as it was back then.

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Good Book, Wrong Title

I found this book to be good background reading regarding the history of Atlanta's passage through some of the important events in the civil rights turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s. However, it's not really the story of the temple bombing on October 12th, 1958. I think a better title for the book would be "A Biography of Rabbi Jack Rothschild." Rothschild was rabbi of The Temple for 28 years, including the time of the bombing. The book tracks his entire life, starting with the details of his childhood in Pittsburgh, through the story of his army service, the whole history of his leadership of The Temple, and the details of his death and funeral service. He had a great career with many important achievements, and this book describes all of them.
Rothschild was in the vanguard of those working for civil rights reform in the 1950s, and his social activism may well have led to the bombing of The Temple. However, if the goal were really to write a book focusing on the bombing of The Temple, including events leading to the event itself and the trials of the alleged bombers, it would be a very different (and shorter) book. A book truly about the temple bombing would have included a lot less biographical material about Jack Rothschild and more about other bombings and possible perpetrators of the bombing of The Temple.

It's a good book, particularly for those interested in Jack Rothschild's life, and I'm glad I read it. For those of us who were not firsthand witnesses of the overturning of legal segregation in the South, the book provides a rich and detailed timeline of some of the key events of the times. I do think a good editor could have cut the length of the book by a third, which would have given the book more impact in fewer pages.

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Another wonderful microcosm of the Civil Rights from MFG

With "The Temple Bombing," Melissa Fay Greene surpasses the accomplishment of "Praying for Sheetrock." Much like that book, "The Temple Bombing" is a microcosm of the Civil Rights Movement. It is the story of the 1958 bombing of the Temple in Atlanta, a synagogue for Reform Jews. Rabbi Rothschild led the Temple during turbulent years in the South, and was an outspoken advocate for the equal rights of Black Americans; furthermore, he believed it was the responsibility of the Jewish people to stand up for these rights. Greene holds that it is this advocacy, combined with anti-semitism, that leads to the Temple becoming a victim of the synagogue bombings that were widespread in the 1950s South.

The story of the bombing itself is compelling and reads like a true crime book. It begins with the emergence of Nazi-like groups in the South, moves to the bombing and search for clues, and ends with a tense courtroom scene. I simply could not put this book down.

But this is more than just the story of the Temple bombing. Greene also tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement, and how in Atlanta it was in a very real way propelled and sustained by the example of Rabbi Rothschild. Atlanta has a unique history of integration as it touted itself as "the city too busy to hate". In other words, if integration was good PR, then Atlanta was going to do it. Hence, the public outcry and huge support for Atlanta's Jewish community after the bombing, and the (relatively) peaceful integration of the Magnolia room and other Atlanta landmarks.

Interspersed with this story are fascinating sidetrips. The best of these are related to Dr. King; we get to see his Nobel prize celebration, his dinner at Rabbi Rothschild's home that is hidden from the Rabbi's neighbors for fear of ridicule, and finally his funeral.

This book grabs onto the reader and doesn't let go. It is compelling and important history; so much so, that one is willing to forgive Greene for making Rothschild more of a god than a man.

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History in the details

There's been a lot written about the civil rights movement but the Temple Bombing is a real stand-out from the pack. Greene writes a compelling narrative, using the bombing of an Atlanta synagogue in 1958 as a touchstone for an in-depth social history. There's a good overview of Jewish life in the American south, the history of extremist groups in mid-20th century America, and how the bombing of "The Temple" effected so many people in so many ways. Couple that with a lively cast of characters that Greene brings to life through vivid prose and great personal sketches. Well worth reading and passing on to others.

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"At 3:37 in the morning of Sunday, October 12, 1958, a bundle of dynamite blew out the side wall of the Temple, Atlanta's oldest and richest synagogue. The devastation to the building was vast-but even greater were the changes those 50 sticks of dynamite made to Atlanta, the South, and ultimately, all of the United States" (Detroit Free Press). Finalist for the National Book Award, The Temple Bombing is the brilliant and moving examination of one town that came together in the face of hatred, a book that rescues a slice of the civil rights era whose lessons still resonate nearly fifty years after that fateful fall day.

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