Listen to the Lambs

A rediscovered landmark in African American political and popular history

In the summer of 1965, the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts exploded in a race riot that spanned six days, claimed thirty-four lives, and brought America’s struggle with racial oppression into harrowing relief.

For Johnny Otis, “Godfather of Rhythm and Blues,” the events of that summer would inspire one of the most compelling books to ever explore that fateful August in Watts. Originally published in 1968, Listen to the Lambs grew from a letter Otis wrote to an expatriate friend during the days following the riots. Otis moves back and forth between Watts and his own childhood to reveal an alternate history of the riots.

Equal parts memoir, social history, and racial manifesto, Listen to the Lambs is a moving witness of collective turmoil and a people for whom the long-promised American Dream was nowhere to be found.

Contributor: George Lipsitz (Introduction by)

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