The Cruelty of Nice Folks: Why Minneapolis Is the Story of America
Review Quotes: "In writing a book about Minneapolis, Justin Ellis has really written a book about America's favorite lie--that good intentions lead to justice. Ellis is a rigorous historian and a visceral storyteller, and he...
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Review Quotes: "In writing a book about Minneapolis, Justin Ellis has really written a book about America's favorite lie--that good intentions lead to justice. Ellis is a rigorous historian and a visceral storyteller, and he has produced something essential: a reckoning with a city that wanted to be a safe haven for all and built a foundation that made this impossible." -Aaron Robertson, author of The Black Utopians "In this penetrating and moving debut, journalist Ellis examines past and present African American life in his hometown of Minneapolis...Ellis's affecting research into his own family's history forms the book's emotional core, as he traces multiple generations who 'thrived in spite of the continued failures of the state.' The result is a searing account of Black survival in a city built on broken promises, and a damning view of liberalism as willing to pick and choose when equality is a virtue." --Publishers Weekly "An urgent critique of "polite" racism that demands attention." --Kirkus "Ellis grapples with the quiet history of white supremacy in so-called nice Minneapolis in this highly recommended book for readers interested in social justice." --Library Journal "In a sobering blend of family memoir and urban exposé, journalist Ellis reveals the contradiction between Minnesota's reputation for niceness and its consistent acceptance of anti-Black racism, culminating in the murder of George Floyd. Juxtaposing more than a hundred years of de facto segregation, police violence, and unfulfilled promises and the experiences of his own relatives, he examines the toll of polite racism on a family and a community . . . . with relentless precision." --Booklist (starred) "Minnesotans have always liked to think of themselves as nice folks--but how far does that take you in a society built to benefit only some of the people living in it? Justin Ellis deftly situates the state's paradoxical history of outwardly progressive politics and quietly regressive policies within the epoch-making tumult of the past six years, as the Twin Cities became ground zero for America's great "post-racial" reckoning in the wake of George Floyd's murder and then, just a few years later, became a test case for how a city might resist an overtly authoritarian federal takeover." --Literary Hub, "Ten Great Nonfiction Titles to Read in June" "Ellis' passionate, elegantly written dive into the history of Minneapolis uncovers a place that's widely considered liberal, where people say they want to do the right thing but where they repeatedly fall short." --Minneapolis Star Tribune "[Ellis] tells a huge story, including his family's history moving between the Black districts of Minneapolis, his strong female relatives, and the long stop-and-start efforts to integrate Black neighborhoods . . . . And he does all this in just 350 pages with the intimacy of a writer who has lived these experiences as a Black man.... Ellis offers statistical proof of how Black citizens paid the price for progress . . . . but the text never feels like a lecture as he weaves in the tender story of his hours sitting with this mother as she shares memories while undergoing cancer treatments." --Pioneer Press "This is an emotional, cultural, historical, and racial history of a city that cuts through what it wants to be and reveals it for what it truly is. It's devastating, but also so smart, insightful, and absolutely brilliant. I can't recommend it enough. -Lyz Lenz, Literary Hub, "40 Great New Books You May Have Missed" Publisher Marketing: "In writing a book about Minneapolis, Justin Ellis has really written a book about America's favorite lie--that good intentions lead to justice. Ellis is a rigorous historian and a visceral storyteller, and he has produced something essential: a reckoning with a city that wanted to be a safe haven for all and built a foundation that made this impossible." -Aaron Robertson, author of The Black Utopians A Boston Globe Best Book of Summer 2026 A revelatory look at one of America's most progressive cities--Minneapolis--as journalist Justin Ellis returns to his hometown to grapple with the quiet history of white supremacy in the wake of George Floyd's murder, uncover his family's story of surviving "Minnesota nice," and revisit the city years later as state violence again forces the question of what a real reckoning looks like. It's the "North," they like to say, not the Midwest. It's different. Minneapolis is a city for everyone. But in 2020, George Floyd's murder by the city's police left many Americans stunned and wondering, "How could this happen in Minneapolis?" To Ellis, the real question is: What made people think it couldn't? The Minneapolis Justin Ellis grew up in is not the idealistic metropolis it claims to be. The "City of Lakes" was built on discrimination-- in its housing, its schools, its politics--much like all other American cities. Black families were systematically cut out of the prosperous neighborhoods, lush parks, and pristine lakes that make Minneapolis a haven of the heartland. Because of its image as a liberal ally in the fight for civil rights, Minneapolis has rarely been forced to confront this fact. But when George Floyd's murder sparks a global protest movement with the city as ground zero, its residents must finally ask what being a good neighbor actually means. In a powerful new epilogue, Ellis turns his gaze back to Minneapolis as the sweeping federal immigration operation once again thrusts the city into national headlines. If George Floyd's murder forced Minneapolis to confront questions of policing, power, and responsibility, the events of 2026 ask what those years of reckoning ultimately changed. Where fear once threatened to overwhelm the city's response to state violence, Ellis finds a community newly practiced in dissent and collective action. The crisis reveals a Minneapolis still wrestling with its identity, but also one transformed by experience--no longer shocked into awakening, but shaped by it. The Cruelty of Nice Folks stands to be a record of a moment in time as well as a definitive portrait of America, documenting:
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Contributor Bio:Ellis, Justin Justin Ellis is a journalist and co-owner of Defector, a worker-owned media company. His work has appeared at ESPN, the Atlantic, The New York Times, Boston Globe and GQ. His TV credits include the Netflix docuseries How to Fix a Drug Scandal and Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas on HBO. He lives in New York City. |