Meri Henriques, a naïve freshman from New York, arrives at Indiana University in September of 1963 expecting an idyllic midwestern college experience; instead, she finds herself thrust into the middle of violent political unrest and escalating racial tensions.
2019 ELit Book Awards bronze medal in Autobiography/Memoir
"Readers interested in Midwestern history, American race relations, and stories of culture shock will find the book both stimulating and convincing. This well-paced narrative absorbingly depicts a handful of lives in Indiana in a pivotal year."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Vahl, a Jew from New York, was among the first students to live in an integrated dorm room at the conservative campus. In her desire to strike out on her own, she had unwittingly entered the front lines of a battle over race and culture that would rage throughout her freshman year, as she precisely recounts in this memoir."
-Booklist
