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.