To Poison a Nation Audiobook By Andrew Baker cover art

To Poison a Nation

The Murder of Robert Charles and the Rise of Jim Crow Policing in America

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

To Poison a Nation

By: Andrew Baker
Narrated by: Victor Love
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.00

Buy for $25.00

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

An explosive, long-forgotten story of police violence that exposes the historical roots of today’s criminal justice crisis

“A deeply researched and propulsively written story of corrupt governance, police brutality, Black resistance, and violent white reaction in turn-of-the-century New Orleans that holds up a dark mirror to our own times.” - Walter Johnson, author of River of Dark Dreams

On a steamy Monday evening in 1900, New Orleans police officers confronted a black man named Robert Charles as he sat on a doorstep in a working-class neighborhood where racial tensions were running high. What happened next would trigger the largest manhunt in the city’s history, while white mobs took to the streets, attacking and murdering innocent black residents during three days of bloody rioting. Finally cornered, Charles exchanged gunfire with the police in a spectacular gun battle witnessed by thousands.

Building outwards from these dramatic events, To Poison a Nation connects one city’s troubled past to the modern crisis of white supremacy and police brutality. Historian Andrew Baker immerses listeners in a boisterous world of disgruntled laborers, crooked machine bosses, scheming businessmen, and the black radical who tossed a flaming torch into the powder keg. Baker recreates a city that was home to the nation’s largest African American community, a place where racial antagonism was hardly a foregone conclusion - but which ultimately became the crucible of a novel form of racialized violence: modern policing.

A major work of history, To Poison a Nation reveals disturbing connections between the Jim Crow past and police violence in our own times.

©2021 by Andrew Baker. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
United States City New Orleans Civil rights
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

“A brilliantly conceived narrative written with meticulous attention to detail, this book offers a stunning indictment of American politics and an inspired vision of a possible road to redemption - interracial social democracy - a pathway from the past that might still be taken forward.” (Vincent Brown, author of Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War)

What listeners say about To Poison a Nation

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Very Interesting Story

This is a very interesting story. Sadly, things have not changed. I would suggest this book and this Audible book. The narrator was great.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!