Can't Stop the Wind — Davis L. Temple

Two young white boys grow up together during the Civil Rights Era in Tupelo, Mississippi and strive to get an education and become successful as crosses and churches burn around them. Tupelo considers itself a progressive town, and therein lies the rub--good is not good enough and Tupelo becomes an attractive target for civil rights activists. Robbie Smith is an intellectual boy who mostly avoids trouble, but his best friend, Dennis Taylor seems to be drawn to the worst of it, and is not immune to the attention of the Ku Klux Klan.