Paula Yoo’s latest is a compelling, nuanced account of Los Angeles’s 1992 uprising and its impact on its Korean
and Black American communities.
On April 29, 1992, following the acquittal of four police officers charged with the beating and arrest of Rodney
King and the earlier killing of teenager Latasha Harlins, the city of Los Angeles erupted in violence. Many
of these events were centered on the city’s Koreatown, where tensions between the Black and Korean
American communities had simmered for years, fueled by economic challenges and redlining and enflamed
by sensationalized and racist media. Based on more than 100 personal interviews, Rising from the Ashes
follows these events through the eyes and experiences of the families of King, Harlins, shooting victim Edward
Jae Song Lee, and dozens of business owners, journalists, police officers, firefighters, activists, and other
community members. Deeply researched and compulsively readable, this is a vivid, propulsive, and moving
story of a pivotal moment in recent American history that continues to resonate today.
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Paula Yoo is the author of several books for children. Her debut young-adult nonfiction book, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry, won the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Nonfiction, was a finalist for the National Book Award and YALSA Book Award, and was named a best book of the year by Time magazine, the Washington Post, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and more.
Kevin R. Free is an audiobook narrator and the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and several AudioFile best narrations of the year selections. Known for his work with young-adult novels, he has read titles by Rick Riordan, Walter Dean Myers, and Joe Haldeman. In 2011 he was named a Best Voice in Young Adult and Fantasy from AudioFile magazine for his narration of Myers’ The Cruisers: Checkmate.