My Soul Looks Back in Wonder

In My Soul Looks Back in Wonder, bestselling author and Emmy-winning correspondent Juan Williams presents the dramatic and uplifting stories of men and women who have been profoundly transformed by their experiences on the front lines of freedom.

Meet Jesse Epps, who witnesses the cold-blooded murder of a black man who refused to step aside for the white "town boss"—and then channels his rage into political action. Or Endesha Holland, a former prostitute whose chance run-in with civil rights icon Robert Moses in Mississippi sets her on a harrowing journey that leads to a Ph.D. Or Diane Wilson, a Texas fisherwoman who, inspired by the struggles of Vietnamese shrimpers, launches a crusade to save the Gulf Coast from big-time polluters.

Published on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, My Soul Looks Back in Wonder is an intimate portrait of America at its best. As Juan Williams writes, "In these pages you will meet extraordinary individuals who tapped into their personal power to become agents of change. They are those rare souls who, through sacrifice and risk, dared take direct action to create a better America. They are American history."

All the narratives are drawn from AARP's Voices of Civil Rights project.