On Thursday, August 20th, the Central Library Brown Baggers met to discuss Charlottesville: An American Story by Deborah Baker.  Published in 2025, “Charlottesville” provides local history and background as well as numerous details on the planning and players involved during the August 11th and 12th, 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. 

Baker covers many of the people and the events that occurred prior to the August rally including the meetings and decisions of the local Blue Ribbon Commission appointed to decide the fate of the statues prior to the Summer of 2017; the May 2017 torchlight rally in Lee Park which was a precursor to the August rally; and the Friday August 11th torchlight march at the UVA rotunda which occurred while a community church service with many dignitaries was taking place just across the street.

The main portion of the Unite the Right rally took place Saturday morning, August 12th in the park where the Robert E. Lee equestrian statue was located, adjacent to the Central Library.   

Baker includes the efforts of local community organizers and groups who planned to try and peacefully resist the rally and attempted to warn law enforcement and UVA about what was coming to Charlottesville and the potential for violence.  Baker also describes the lack of coordination between the various responders and the chaos and tragedy that resulted.

It’s hard to tell the story of Unite the Right without giving a platform to the various groups who descended on Charlottesville that weekend from all over the country.  The author included many details on the various militia and provocateurs who convened that weekend here in Charlottesville.

For some of our readers who lived here at the time and experienced the traumatic events of August 2017, this book was too much, too soon.  And not particularly well done.  Our readers wondered why the author felt the need to insert her personal history into the book, especially given that she wasn’t here in Charlottesville during the August 2017 events. (The author grew up in the area, has family in Albemarle County and she is a University of Virginia graduate).

Despite the extensive “Notes” section in the rear of the book, some of our readers questioned the accuracy of Baker’s timeline and some of her narrative.

Two readers who listened to the audio version agreed that the narration by the author was terrible and even questioned whether the reader was AI generated! 

This book might be a good introduction to local history including background on the events of August 2017 for someone new to the area or someone who did not live here at that tumultuous time.

One reader highly recommended local reporter Hawes Spencer’s book covering the same period entitled “Summer of Hate” as a far superior choice for someone interested in reading about the Unite the Right rally.

JMRL’s Central Library was closed Saturday, August 12th but being adjacent to the Park, the library staff had a front row view to the preparations taking place in the Park and downtown area on Friday, August 11th.  Following that tragic weekend, library staff (and patrons) felt the need to reclaim the space with staff planning a variety of programs and activities to assist in community recovery.  The statue in the park continued to periodically draw attention and unrest until its 2021 removal.