{"product_id":"test-ride-on-the-sunnyland-bus-a-daughters-civil-rights-journey-9780803217126","title":"Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter's Civil Rights Journey","description":"\u003ci\u003eTest Ride on the Sunnyland Bus\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles the story of an American family against the backdrop of one of the civil rights movement's lesser-known stories. In January 1957, Joseph Spagna and five other young men waited to board a city bus called the Sunnyland in Tallahassee, Florida. Their plan was simple but dangerous: ride the bus together--three blacks and three whites--get arrested, and take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fifty years later Ana Maria Spagna sets off on a journey to understand what happened and why. Spagna travels from her remote mountain home in the Pacific Northwest to contemporary Tallahassee, searching for the truth of the incident and her father's involvement. Her journey is complicated by the fact that her father never spoke of the Sunnyland experience and died unexpectedly when she was eleven. Seeking out the other bus riders, now in their seventies, Spagna tries to make sense of their conflicting stories. Her odyssey becomes further troubled by the sudden diagnosis of her mother's terminal cancer. Winner of the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction prize, \u003ci\u003eTest Ride on the Sunnyland Bus\u003c\/i\u003e deftly weaves cultural and personal history, memoir, and reportage in this fascinating look at a family and a nation's past.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAna Maria Spagna is the author of \u003ci\u003eNow Go Home: Wilderness, Belonging, and the Crosscut Saw\u003c\/i\u003e, which was named a Best Book of 2004 by the \u003ci\u003eSeattle Times\u003c\/i\u003e. Her work has appeared widely in publications such as \u003ci\u003eOrion\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eUtne Reader\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eNorth American Review\u003c\/i\u003e. She lives and writes in Stehekin, Washington.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bison Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50503857733906,"sku":"9780803217126","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c8a86ac9-ecd1-4789-b12f-506ad2950ed5.jpg?v=1730800944","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/test-ride-on-the-sunnyland-bus-a-daughters-civil-rights-journey-9780803217126","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}