Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham (review)

Over the course of two days in 1921, Greenwood, a predominantly black part of Tulsa, was burned to the ground during race riots, and hundreds of people, most of them African American, were killed. Despite his mother’s Osage heritage, seventeen-year-old Will looks white, and during the simmering tensions leading up to the massacre, he is faced with two choices: prove himself above his “half-breed” status and join the KKK, or protect the two black children he befriended while working at his father’s shop. Over ninety years later, rising senior Rowan knows little of the riots, despite being the daughter of a prominent African-American figure in Tulsa, until the remains of a skeleton are discovered on the grounds of her family’s estate and Rowan launches herself into an investigation that leads her to Will’s complicated story. Narration alternates between Will and Rowan, giving both depth. Will is often a jerk and a coward, and he’s less of a progressive hero who subscribes to today’s ideals of diversity and more a kid who just doesn’t want to see his friends die. Rowan, meanwhile, is a firecracker of wit, and although she certainly knows what racism looks like, she’s beginning to understand that her wealth has largely protected her from the worst of it. Latham pulls in a host of details to create a rich, authentic portrait of each time, referencing specific events and locations that reveal the parallels between the two eras. Though occasionally preachy, the book mostly allows readers, especially those who’ve had their eyes to the news in the last few years, to wonder if today’s headlines are really all that different from those a century ago.