Built From the Fire is Out Now!

My book on the history of Greenwood, five years in the making, is now in your hands

It was five years ago almost to the day that I stepped onto Greenwood Avenue for the first time. What an honor it is to finally be able to say, after years of research, interviews, writing, and paying witness, that my chronicle of this place is out in the world.

Built From the Fire is out today at a bookstore near you. I hope that those of you who have been following me on this journey for years (Run It Back launched before the pandemic) will buy a copy, tell a friend, suggest it for a book club, reflect on whether the patterns of oppression in Greenwood mirror what has unfolded in the communities in your own backyard. Today feels like the end of one journey and the start of another. But this new beginning is in readers’ hands, not mine.

When your book arrives, it would mean a lot to me if you can share this info with people in your world. Post a photo of the book when your copy arrives--on your bookshelf, with your cat, or even better, in a selfie. Be sure to use the hashtag #BuiltFromTheFire, so we can see people sharing this story all over the United States.

Here are some places where you can buy the book:

• My partners on my upcoming book tour

• Bookshop (national online bookstore that diverts a portion of sales to indie bookstores)

• Amazon 

Here are some powerful things people have already said about the book:

• “In his absorbing new book…Victor Luckerson combs through layers of soot and ash, the physical and psychological residue of the Tulsa race massacre, which continues to haunt the city’s Black community more than a century after it occurred…By the end of Luckerson’s outstanding book, the idea of building something new from the ashes of what has been destroyed becomes comprehensible, even hopeful.” - The New York Times, review by Marcia Chatelain

• “Built from the Fire is an American epic—damning in its implications, inspirational in its theme of perseverance no matter the obstacles, and compelling from its opening paragraph to its final sentence.” - Jelani Cobb, staff writer at The New Yorker

• “Built from the Fire tells a powerful story of African American resiliency and ‘hopeful anger.’...The scope, the elegance, and the power of Luckerson’s tale is simply breathtaking and empowering.”—Carol Anderson, author of White Rage

• “In the tradition of the great reporting of Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns, Victor Luckerson describes in gripping detail the events surrounding the Tulsa Massacre in a way never before seen.”—Dorothy A. Brown, author of The Whiteness of Wealth

• “A vital book for anyone who wishes to understand American race relations past and present.” —Kirkus, starred review

Thank you for accompanying me on this eye-opening journey over the last few years. Here are some images of the people of Greenwood who you will meet in the book:

Jim Goodwin, publisher of the Oklahoma Eagle and 3rd generation Greenwood

Regina Goodwin, Oklahoma state legislator and 4th generation Greenwood

Chief Egunwale Amusan, founder of the Black Wall Street Memorial March, 3rd generation Greenwood

Thank you.