A Few Red Drops by Claire Hartfield tells the story of the Chicago Race Riots of 1919 in a thoughtful, compelling manner.  It presents this event, which was one of many during that sweltering summer of 1919, arising from a build up of social and economic tensions between immigrant European and blacks.  This telling examines not only the event but performs an in-depth analysis of the antecedent conditions that led to this element of a nationwide explosion.  The book begins with an excerpt from a poem by Carl Sandburg, who witnessed the riot, titled “I am the People, the Mob”.  The gist of the poem is that people collectively create history, then collectively forget its lessons so that nothing is learned.  This work is the author’s effort to correct this collective inability to remember so that people may learn about and correct this collective inability to remember so that people can correct past injustices.  The effort is facilitated by the use of photographs, political cartoons, period pamphlets and flyers that effectively support the text, making it come alive and providing the reader with a feeling for what life was like during this period.  A Few Red Drops is a poignant presentation of a, particularly bleak period in the sincere hope that we may, by reliving it, be able to remember and actually begin the work necessary to make a real change in the nature of society.  The work is appropriate for more advanced readers and is highly recommended.