In 1964 small outbursts of violence occurred in poor communities populated mostly by African Americans in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania, and another 150 riots were to occur in the next 2 years. But in 1965, Watts was considered the most destructive incident of racial violence in US history. The book examines factors that contributed to the riot -- a perceived pattern of Los Angeles police brutality in dealing with African Americans, apparent official inaction in improving social conditions, city resistance to Federal antipoverty initiatives, and lack of educational opportunities for blacks -- and attempts to explain why the riot came as a surprise to some civil rights workers. The book also studies the spread of destruction and the immediate aftermath of the riot. Perhaps the single greatest legacy of the Watts riot was to pull apart black and white civil rights activists who disagreed on the prospective role of organized violence as a means of improving conditions in inner cities, an issue that divided the black community as well. Figures, notes, bibliography, references, index