Updated on: July 10, 2026 / 10:05 AM EDT
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Penguin Press
We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article. In "They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live With Its Legacy" (to be published July 14 by Penguin Press), The New Yorker writer Lauren Collins examines how, in 1898, white supremacists staged a coup against Wilmington, N.C.'s multi-racial government – a case study in the sabotage of American democracy. Read an excerpt below, and don't miss Lee Cowan's interview with Lauren Collins on "CBS Sunday Morning" July 12!
