Product Description
Let freedom ring from every hill
and molehill of Mississippi. From
every mountaintop, let freedom
ring. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

From the dusty back roads of Montgomery, Alabama, to the legendary March on Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr., brought a stirring message of peace, equality, and justice to a divided people. He aspired only to be a Baptist minister, but by the time he was tragically assassinated in 1968 at the age of thirty-nine, he had led a movement that destroyed segregation in the South, and he had won the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Now, a quarter century after his death, his words are as significant and moving as they were in the 1960s. Watts burns today as it did then; issues of race, justice and human dignity are still the most critical problems facing our nation. This handsome quotation book represents the finest of the Reverend King's words; it is a classic volume compiled from his essays, lectures, and speeches by his wife, Coretta Scott King. Excerpts form his most famous speech-"I Have a Dream" and "I've Been to the Mountaintop"-are included, as well as equally powerful but lesser known quotations. King's vision of healing and forgiveness is a timeless message that American can ill afford to ignore.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Close COmpanion for these coming years of trial and testing: nonviolence is the only way, not war, not hate, but love
"I am convinced that the universe is under the control of a loving purpose, and that in the struggle for righteousness man has cosmic companionship."- the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. as quoted in this Frontispiece

The Companion collection, first published in 1993, gathered from the books, essays and speeches of the Reverend Doctor King by his wife, Coretta Scott King, with the assistance of Joe Kirchberger, and wonderfully published in hardcover with thick, matte, rough edged paper by the great St, Martin's Press stands us good stead and firm companion upon the rocky path ahead which we must yet walk.

Among this collection's sources stand straight the 1957 strengthening volume STRIDE TOWARD FREEDOM, the 1963 Civil Rights Manifesto Why We Can't Wait (Signet Classics) (including several passages from his cornerstone Letter From A Birmingham Jail), the late 1967 commissioning Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? and the 1967 The Trumpet of Conscience: The Summing-Up of His Creed, and His Final Testament. This collection adds selections from his consoling and enlivening Strength to Love, his discourse upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and his speech Beyond Vietnam, and so this gets enables you to take up your weary mat and walk, strongly, towards freedom, peace and nonviolent love with all humanity.

All Jesus' words and teachings and life are often summed up by three: "Love thy enemy!" Dr. King wrote and said so much more than "I have a dream" or "Free at last!" or "I have been to the mountaintop." In fact his son Dexter alludes in his introduction to this book to over "200,000 documents in his lifetime" written by Dr. King.

Dexter Scott King, in one paragraph of his rich introduction, calls this "a book about my father's words, but more significantly, it's a blueprint for social change. I feel that this portable companion can be read wholly on its own, but also as a source book that illuminates the passages of Dr. King's greatest works. This is a book that is just as meaningful, perhaps more relevant today, than it was twenty-five years ago, when my father died (p. xi)."

As our nation now turns a corner in our long journey, this book serves as well as a light unto our feet and a guide for our future, and grows even more relevant now, sixteen years after its first publication, and over forty years after the publication of its source material. We have much to see here now, to help us on our way, in our progress towards peaceful cooperation and our ultimate survival. Read this book well.

This book, therefore, is divided in to six Parts, each carrying several themes, or issues. The Parts are Heritage, The Movement, Institutions which includes the subsection on the US Presidency, citing among others this passage: "We were all involved in the death of John Kennedy. We tolerated hate; we tolerated the sick stimulation of violence in all walks of life, and we tolerated the differential application of law, which said that a man's life was sacred only if we agreed with his views (p. 28)."The Parts continue with Philosophies, Issues and Reflections, each with their own generous subsections.

In the section on War we find this: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death (p. 83)." Hear these words now; where are we now? Where are we going to? And again: "There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force, but the destructive power of modern weapons eliminates even the possibility that war may serve as a negative good (p. 82)." These are words for us now, today, as we look at our ruins and trillion dollar deficits, now. Where will we go?

Read this book, a strong companion for the path we have ahead.

When you need a way to say something of worth
For a good while I've been speechless.
Oh I talk, sure,but it has been obscured by my being distracted.By my flaws, by others flaws. A waste of energy sometimes, a drain on my heart when not directed to a love purpose.
On Amazon this included a person that deliberately improved a false god standing by ruining mine. Simple truths speak simply, it was a waste of my heart energy and did no one any good. I removed content that mattered to me. I wrote here to talk to issues in teaching, point out good books to use with students and reflect.But it became an accusational festival of lies about me. Untrue, unfair, unfounded and it hurt just good purposes. That's how jealousy and hate work. But I was falsely accused. And I stood pretty much alone. But I have a background in understanding some things. Shoulders to climb on.

I have always been inspired by the work of those who see poverty, see needs, see situations that require our concern and then seeing this lose their own self needs into becoming effective reacting on their feet, they dedicate their life to it, to solutions. Some are silent to the world, unseen forces for good. Sure they know how inadequate and flawed they are, but carry on with the best they have toward peace/compassion/doing as their light. Simple thing to elevate in your self. Some become known to us, often giving up their life in noble pursuit.At the extreme end many have done that.
Obviously Dr. King did that.

So his quotes contained in this little lovely book can slip in your purse and stay with you as you sit in the doctor's office, waiting perhaps to get results to see if you son has an aneurysm in his brain(my week), or whenever you feel you need to look deeper as you meditate, or to share with others to center a task. Good as I start the day, or get a break in it to think again about "WHAT MATTERS" in teaching to me.

So inside are attributions to writings and speeches and a very good culled QUOTATION collection. Nothing doesn't stand there for me like a rock solid foundational value he put into practice.
It is divided into sections:
Heritage, The Movement, Institutions, Philosophies, Issues, Reflections and further subdivided.

Today I need to think, meditate, as I teach King, reading here to center about Love and Compassion. (Within Philosophies)


So try listening :

"The hard hearted individual never sees people as people, but rather as mere objects or as impersonal cogs in an ever turning wheel. In the vast wheel of industry, he sees men as hands."

"...we must recognize that the evil deed of the enemy-neighbor, the thing that hurts, never quite expresses all that he is. An element of goodness may be found even in our worst enemy. Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves."

" Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: "We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering, We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you."

" The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued that self-defeating path of hate. Love is the key to the solution of the problems of the world."


" It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

" If only to save myself bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transfigure myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation which now obtains. I have lived these past few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive."
Dr. King

It helps me turn away from the feelings of disappointment, anxiety and deep feelings of disgust towards more loving reserves that allow me to say to that "enemy" ...... try seeing another way. And I will do the same.

THE MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COMPANION:QUOTATIONS FROM THE SPEECHES,ESSAYS,&BOOKS OF MARTIN LUTHER LUTHER KING,JR.
THIS WAS AN AWESOME MAN!! HE WAS TRULY A GOD SEND AND A BLESSING TO BLACK PEOPLE AS A WHOLE AND ALL WHO LISTENED, BELIEVED AND LEARNED FROM HIS MESSAGES AND SPEECHES!! A TRUE BLACK KING!! THIS BOOK IS A COLLECTORS ITEM AND A TRUE HEIRLOOM OF A BLACK LEGACY!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
Reissued with a new cover in trade paperback format in the Newmarket "Words Of" series, this perennial classic—over 200,000 copies sold—belongs in every home, school and library. Throughout his brief life, Martin Luther King communicated vision, passion, and inspiration. He led millions of people in a nonviolent movement that shattered the system of segregation in the South, and at the age of 39 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his eloquent, passionate advocacy of civil and human rights. This timeless volume, authorized by the estate of Martin Luther King, includes highlights from the legendary civil rights leader's speeches, sermons, and writings selected by his wife Coretta Scott King, who contributes an impressive introduction on Dr. King's life and legacy. The stirring book contains approximately 120 quotations, focusing on seven areas of concern: The Community of Man, Racism, Civil Rights, Justice and Freedom, Faith and Religion, Nonviolence, and Peace. Also included is a detailed chronology of Dr. King's life and its involvement in the civil rights movement in our time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

mlk's words of inspiration
Every family, especially with young children, should have this little book in its home. I thought and read a lot about Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. and his ideas. Still, as I read this little book, I could not stop wondering what I would have been able to accomplish had I read the messages of this book when I was younger.Regrets aside, I feel so calmly inspired to do something good for someone else!After all, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, `What are you doing for others?' . " Moreover, to serve others "you only need a heart full of grace, [and] a soul generated by love" (p. 17).

All seven chapters of the book are insightful, and the introduction and chronology of events before and after the death of Dr. King, Jr are equally valuable reading. It is hard, very hard ,to readthe`I've been to the mountain top'and `I have a dream' speeches without a lump of sadness in one's throat.But in reading the "Proclamation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1986" as a national public holiday by President Ronald Reagan , one gets a sense that America has finally turned into a more inclusive direction for all its people.The election of Barrack Obama to the US Presidency is a further step in the same direction. A fascinating, inspirational, some time very deep reading. Highly recommended!

Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465

ISBN: 1600210465
Quotable Arthur Schopenhauer
ISBN: 9781430324959

The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Concerned Retrospection

This is a unique collection of Dr. King's most penetrating insights. It tracks his moral progression and intellectual maturity from when he was mostly concerned about the injustices in the South, to larger and deeper concerns about racism and poverty in America more generally, and in the world at large. It is well known that towards the end of his life he had also embraced the peace movement and became a force for ending the Vietnam War. In this collection one will also see how his views on the war had begun to coalesce and gel with his other humanitarian concerns. Dr. King was no lightweight. He drank deep and kept his moral compass on alert at all times.

Reading Mrs Coretta Scott King's excellent introduction and summary of the major events in Dr. King's life, which itself encompasses the whole of the Civil Rights era, brought back uncertain memories and raised new questions about the goals and tactics of the Civil Rights movement of the past era, including the non-violent aspects of it. In my family only my Grandmother, Mrs. Lula Brown, and I participated in the sit-ins at the local Pine Bluff, Arkansas Woolworth's Lunch Counter. The non-violent movement was coordinated through St. James AME Methodist Church, which was about 8-10 blocks from downtown. Each day, the cowardly "good old boys" knowing that they could throw acid from the backs of their pickups with impunity never failed to show up from the countryside to do so.That is until, violating the non-violent protocol I had been so carefully taught, I snatched one of them off the bed of the truck and began to plummet him. He was terrified, as well he should have been. At great embarrassment, I was kicked out of the non-violent movement.

But the point of this story is that neither my Grandmother nor I ever ate at the Woolworth's lunch counter once it was "integrated." And that is the nature of my concerned retrospection: All the symbolism aside, why, when discrimination in jobs, education, etc. were so much more important, were we getting acid throw in our faces to eat at a place from which, none of us would elect to eat in any case? Even 50 years later, the utter narrowness of the goals we had set for ourselves in the sit-in movement still seems to betray a serious commitment (beyond symbolism) to what our collective community needs really were.This mismatch between means and ends has bothered me ever since being kicked out of the movement.

One can argue that sit-ins were the straw that broke the back of segregation. But was it? Arguably, the forces of resistance simply move the front lines back a few yards and turned their resistance in to a much more serious political movement.The "old Southern Dixicrats" are now called "conservative Republicans." In the mean time Dr. King has been assassinated and we are left singing his praises with no programs, no movement, put plenty of lunch counters to eat at.

Three Stars.

deeply moving
I was perusing through my bookshelf today, and stumbled across a very old edition of this book, "The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr."
Well I'd always noticed it here and there - but today I actually read it.

It's fantastic. It's something else. He was a genius before his time - yet he managed to stand up, at the right time.

Each excerpt makes you think. Very deep and moving.

Powerful. I highly recommend this book.

His fundamental commitment to unconditional love and unarmed truth
This book is a small compilation of quotes from Dr. King's writings and speeches.It's never a bad idea to honor the civil rights leaders and martyrs by reading literature that would again remind us of their struggle.
Through his words we will be reminded of how far we have come:
"I can foresee the Negro vote becoming consistently the decisive vote in national elections." -chapter on Justice and Freedom
Through his words we will be reminded of how far we haven't come:
"...wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows." - chapter on Peace

In one sitting, you could read this book in its entirety.As benefactors of his sacrifice, we should spare a few moments of our time to reflect on Dr. King and his enduring legacy.

Small but effective collection of MLK's speeches
When looking for some words of tribute to use at a church function, I recalled the copy of the book sitting amongst others in my home library.No better orator could have been selected than the revered civil rights leader.My presentation went off without and hitch and for that, I thank Dr. King.

This collection is divided into ten sections, with notable commentary by Dr. King:

1.The Community of Man
2.Racism
3.Civil Rights
4.Justice and Freedom
5.Faith and Religion
6.Nonviolence
7.Peace
8."I've Been to the Mountain Top" (excerpt)
9."I Have a Dream" (excerpt)
10.Proclamation of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by then-President Ronald Reagan

The book begins with a foreward by King's widow, Coretta, and ends with a chronology and sources of the works printed. ... Read more

Product Description
Warner Books, in conjunction with Intellectual Properties Management, Inc., presents an extraordinary collection of sermons by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-many never before published-along with introductions an documentary of the world's leading ministers & theologians.Amazon.com Review
These 11 historic sermons--some complete recordings of entireaddresses, others reconstructed from various church services--makeplain why Martin Luther King Jr. considered his "first calling andgreatest commitment" to be a preacher of the gospel. As an orator heis second to none, drawing his audience in with an urgency thatresonates through every soaring cadence of his familiar, powerfulvoice. Using insights from psychology, philosophy, and the Bible, heappeals to the heads as well as the hearts of his congregations,explaining that personal and social change can only be effected byadopting a morality of love in service of God and humankind. WhileKing's concern for social justice is a common theme throughout, eachsermon is a jewel of literary artistry, as it presents a simpleproblem, examines its complications, and offers a startling and oftenchallenging resolution. Topics range from "Rediscovering Lost Values,"a caution that scientific progress without moral progress can resultonly in a step backward for humanity, to "An American Dream," awake-up call to the "self-evident truth" of equality proclaimed in theConstitution.

Brief introductions to the sermons from spiritualleaders and friends, including Dr. Joan Campbell, Billy Graham,Dr. Robert Franklin, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, offer personalinsights into King's life, work, and legacy. An interesting note fromthe producers explains how the recordings of the sermons (published ina hardcover companion of the same name) were pieced together. In wordand in voice, these are masterpieces of theological literature fromone of the world's great orators, who Robert Franklin rightly says maywell be "the greatest religious intellectual of the twentiethcentury." (Running time: 8 hours, 6 cassettes) --UmaKukathas ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Knock at Midnight will Knock Your Soxs Off!
A Knock at Midnight - Inspirational from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

The following comments are for the Time Warner cassette audio book version of A Knock at Midnight. The material presented is the original recording of church sermons delivered by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The audio book consists of 6 standard tapes cassettes. Each cassette plays 90 minuets; 45 minuets per side. Although these are standard 45 minuets per side tapes the actual audio content length varies from tape to tape. For example Tape 1 side A is listed at 37 minuets so the last 8 minuets are blank.Each side consists of an introduction by an associated of MLK followed by the sermon. Unfortunately neither the dates of the sermons nor the locations are documented anywhere in this audio book.

The packaging is as follows: on each tapes side is listed the audio length, person giving the introduction and the usual commercial labeling. Disconcertingly the title of the sermon is not shown on the tape but only on the audio book packaging. The tapes are housed in standard audiocassette plastic boxes. The six tape boxes slip into individual sleeves in a three-panel fold out box. There was no insert booklet. The packaging provides sturdy protection for the tapes and allows easy access.

The issues date from this collection was 1998.I purchased my copy as a remainder in 2010 and it was "factory fresh" in every respect. To my delight the audio quality of the tapes after 14 years in storage were excellent.

It is apparent that some of these sermons were recorded 20 to 30 years ago and the audio quality is not "studio perfect" but nonetheless the clarity and pronunciation and enunciation by MLK are adequately captured on these tapes. You will soon notice that that each sermon has gaps. This is because I assume someone's tape ran out and the reel has to be replaced. I remember well those old reel-to-reel machines.

We tend to forget that MLK was first and foremost a preacher of the gospel in a branch of Christianly that elevated preaching to an art. His convictions and subsequent action grew out of his preaching tradition. This collection of his sermons is just amazing.

Inspired messages
I was very happy to be able to get this in CD form.For me, Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the finest speakers of our times.Even though he has been gone for so long, his messages are inspirational, easy to understand and profound.This has been done very well with excellent reviews before each message.

Excellent
Simply great! A must read for any aspiring individual, puts you right into the heart and thoughts of Martin Luther

American Hero!
Wow! I was born around the time of his death and sadly did not see or hear much about this great American growing up. Then there was a holiday. Then a few more breakthroughs in history with regards to American race relations. Because of the magic of technology this recorded collection puts you right there sitting in the pews up front at the church where this great man preached only the truth. Today you wonder where have our great heroes all gone.

The collection of the sermons was truly uplifting and deeply inspirational even 40+ years since his death - still TIMELY! A tear fell from my eye with everyother sermon. The discussions about his sermons were mostly weak, but I didn't mind. Some of the recordings had imperfections and gaps, but I didn't mind.

Finally I was saddened by the hate that took his life and robbed us of one of our true American heroes who really fought for all of us. Where would this world be today if we had a fearless voice for the people like him still willing to confront hatred at every turn like Mister Doctor Martin Luther King Junior did? I'm sending copies to intelligent, thoughtful people I know who will appreciate his powerful message. I am now looking to read more about his life so I can only try to understand and better appreciate what he meant to America; then, today, and in the distant future.

MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was a minister and humanitarian, and of course a civil rights leader. Very intelligent eloquent and compassionate. He did walk the walk The Word requests of us. ... Read more

Product Description
Collection of biographies of great Americans, specifically written for Children. Each volume contains stories and illustrations about a particular American hero (suggested ages 7-12). Subjects include: Inventors, Artists/Writers, Female American Heroes, Sports Heroes, Presidents, Native Americans, African-American Civil Rights Heroes, and Heroes from Colonial Times. Titles include: Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, Babe Ruth, Sitting Bull, Pocahontas, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr, Paul Revere, Davy Crockett, Robert E Lee, Buffalo Bill, Daniel Boone, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, John F Kennedy, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and many more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Childhood Biographies of American Heroes
The "Childhood of Famous Americans" encyclopedia tells stories of the early years/upbringing of great Americans.

Finding out what American heroes were like as kids is more fun for the young readers than traditional history lessons. And, I also appreciate that this collection focuses on diversity within American history, with a lot of female heroes as well as Native Americans, civil rights leaders, and colonial freedom fighters.

The collection includes the following:


> American Artists / Writers:

* Mark Twain - Young Writer
* Walt Disney - Young Movie Maker
* Harry Houdini - Young Magician
* Louisa May Alcott - Young Female Novelist
* Jim Henson - Young Puppeteer

> Presidents:

* George Washington - Young Leader
* Tom Jefferson - Third President of the United States
* Abraham Lincoln - The Great Emancipator
* Teddy Roosevelt - Young Rough Rider
* John F Kennedy - America's Youngest President
* Ronald Reagan - Young Leader

> Native Americans:

* Pocahontas - Young Peacemaker
* Sitting Bull - Dakota Boy

> American Sports Heroes:

* Babe Ruth - One of Baseball's Greats
* Lou Gehrig - One of Baseball's Greats
* Jim Thorpe - Olympic Champion
* Roberto Clemente - Young Ball Player
* Knute Rockne - Young Athlete
* Joe Dimaggio - Young Sports Hero

> African Americas & Civil Rights:

* Martin Luther King Jr - Young Man with a Dream
* Crispus Attucks - Black Leader of Colonial Patriots
* Thurgood Marshall - Young Justice
* Jackie Robinson - Young African-American Sports Trailblazer

> American Women:

* Amelia Earhart - Young Aviator
* Eleanor Roosevelt - Fighter for Social Justice
* Martha Washington - America's First First Lady
* Molly Pitcher - Young Patriot
* Clara Barton - Founder of Red Cross
* Elizabeth Blackwell - Girl Doctor
* Abigail Adams - Girl of Colonial Days
* Helen Keller - From Tragedy to Triumph
* Mary Todd Lincoln - Girl of the Bluegrass
* Annie Oakley - Young Markswoman
* Betsy Ross - Designer of our Flag

> Inventors and Heroes:

* Albert Einstein - Young Thinker
* Benjamin Franklin - Young Printer
* Neil Armstrong - Young Flyer
* Wilbur and Orville Wright Brothers - Young Fliers

> Colonial Heroes:

* Paul Revere - Boston Patriot
* Davy Crockett - Young Rifleman
* Robert E Lee - Young Confederate
* Buffalo Bill - Frontier Daredevil
* Daniel Boone - Young Hunter and Tracker
... Read more

Product Description
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial looking out over thousands of troubled Americans who had gathered in the name of civil rights and uttered his now famous words, "I have a dream . . ." It was a speech that changed the course of history.

This anniversary edition honors Martin Luther King Jr.'s courageous dream and his immeasurable contribution by presenting his most memorable words in a concise and convenient edition. As Coretta Scott King says in her foreword, "This collection includes many of what I consider to be my husband's most important writings and orations." In addition to the famed keynote address of the 1963 march on Washington, the renowned civil rights leader's most influential words included here are the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," the essay "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence," and his last sermon, "I See the Promised Land," preached the day before he was assassinated.

Editor James M. Washington arranged the selections chronologically, providing headnotes for each selection that give a running history of the civil rights movement and related events. In his introduction, Washington assesses King's times and significance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A PROPHETIC "SOCIAL BIBLE"FOR THE WORLD
This book "I Have a Dream" is indeed a book every human on earth needs to read. My aim to read the book stemmed from the quest of understanding the 'American Dream' and the the victory of Obama as first black american president-elect. After reading the book I became convinced that even though what Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. prophesied about America has been "Partially fulfilled", there is lot to be done for the world to be seen as one made by God,of God and for all people created of God.

Amazing Collection of Speeches
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of America's greatest heroes and this is a collection of his wonderful writings and speeches. Often people stop at "I Have a Dream" but this shows the complete evolution of Dr. King. A wonderful read that has been part of my library for the past 10 years -- and I've read it three times and often use it for reference and store it next to the Bible.

AMERICANS SHOULD REALIZE THIS 'DREAM' TO THE FULLEST!
Dr. Martin Luther King's collection of writings and speeches, "I Have A Dream", brings aspiration to light. The events that surrounded the life and death of this true hero reveals the shameful fact that no matter how great the United States of America is today, it is one country that was nurtured with inhumane machinery: slavery, racism, injustice, Mickey-Mouse freedom, and Mickey-Mouse democracy. I hate to think about it, but it is an honest fact, whichwe should all come to terms with. Nobody can rewrite history.
The 256 pages that is "I Have A Dream" was enough to highlight the wickedness and the violence that were deliberately sustained in America, for a full century, after a bloody Civil War ended her tenacity on slavery.
One question that will always beg for answer is: How on earth did U.S. Presidents who presided over the ruthless color-bar era qualified for those Nobel Peace Prizes that they received? Knowing what life was like in the U.S.A. just a couple of decades ago melts my heart. "I Have A Dream" is a big eye-opener!

The essential King
"I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World," by Martin Luther King, Jr., is a fine collection of texts by this important figure. The book has been edited by James M. Washington. Coming in at less than 300 pages, this is a concise but meaty book.

Washington includes King's most important texts: the "Letter from Birmingham Jail"; the "I Have a Dream" speech; his Nobel Prize acceptance speech; "My Trip to the Land of Gandhi"; "A Time to Break Silence," his 1967 speech criticizing the United States war in Vietnam, and more. These writings and speeches cover King's great themes: nonviolent resistance, the African-American civil rights movement, etc.

Those seeking a more comprehensive collection of Kings' work should seek out "A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr." also edited by James M. Washington. At more than 700 pages, this is a truly monumental collection, and includes much material not found in "I Have a Dream": the 1965 "Playboy" interview, transcripts of television interviews, and more. But for those who want a shorter text that cuts to the heart of King's life and work, "I Have a Dream" is perfect.

"I Have a Dream" reveals King to be a true Christian prophet, and a man with a global vision. As literature, these texts also show King to be the heir of such American thinkers as Henry David Thoreau and W.E.B. DuBois. Highly recommended.

Excellent introduction to Dr. King's works
This collection of Dr. King's writings includes all the major speeches -- such as I Have A Dream and I See the Promised Land, as well as important writings such as Letter from A Birmingham Jail.It also has great essays on the lessons Dr. King learned from Ghandi and a wonderful introduction from Mrs. King. This is a great collection to get started learning about Dr. King -- from his own pen.I highly reccomend it. ... Read more

Product Description
Guide to how the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., can be used to effect positive, long-lasting change in any organization.Amazon.com Review
Leadership motivational speaker Donald T. Phillips, who haspreviously drawn organizational lessons for modern businesses from thecareers of Abraham Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, turns tocivil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as a role model. Adiscussion of the Montgomery bus boycott, for example, draws out suchprinciples as "Set goals and create a plan of action" and "Involve thepeople." More effective as a self-help book for business than as abiography, it does provide a useful introduction to King's life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

The book effectively integrates a history of King with leadership principles.
Heard MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ON LEADERSHIP,written
and read by Donald T. Phillips.

The book effectively integrates a history of King with leadership
principles . . . along the way, there's much detail on the Civil
Rights movement of the late 1950s and the 1960s.

In particular, I liked how Phillips used the Montgomery bus boycott
to draw out these five leadership principles:

1. Set goals and create a plan of action.
2. Create a new formal alliance.
3. Involve the people.
4. Seek dialogue and negotiation.
5. Innovate.

In addition, ON LEADERSHIP got me to revisit this classic King quote:
" A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder
of consensus."

If you're interested in the subject of leadership, you'll find this
book by Phillips has much to offer . . . it will also serve as
an excellent introduction to King's life--particularly for any readers not old
enough to have known about his greatness.

Biographical look at Martin Luther King, Jr.
This review is on the audio book of:Martin Luther King, Jr., on Leadership: Inspiration and Wisdom for Challenging Times. Author Donald T. Phillips offers listeners both a biographical look at Martin Luther King, Jr. and a look a King's leadership style.

Listeners will be touched by King's life. The man was peaceful, strong and courageous. However, he struck fear and hatred in the hearts of his enemies. I'm not sure I truly understood the significance of King's speeches or the man.

I believe that God has a plan for each of our lives. It is obvious when studying King the truth in that belief. God had a plan for King's life and King knew it.
King was a man that inspired others regardless of their race.

Few have captured King in the way Phillip has. He seems to peel off the layers and reveal the true man. Well done Mr. Phillips.

Another great book for another great man!
I have enjoyed all of the "On Leadership" books from Phillips, but this one actually made me tear up at times. A wonderful book, and I hope every person who wants to DO something reads it! Thank you Mr. Phillips for writing it!

Great book for leadership development!
I have always wanted to perfect situational leadership and this book gives insight into what that means.

The wisdom of MLK Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man ahead of his time.His insights and wisdom were are truly applicable for today's leaders. ... Read more

Product Description
The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. has become the definitive record of the most significant correspondence, sermons, speeches, published writings, and unpublished manuscripts of one of America's most best-known advocates for peace and justice. Threshold of a New Decade, Volume V of the planned fourteen-volume series, illustrates the growing sophistication and effectiveness of King and the organizations he led while providing an unparalleled look into the surprising emergence of the sit-in protests that sparked the social struggles of the 1960s. In this pivotal period of his career, King traveled to India in early 1959 to meet with Prime Minister Nehru and other associates of Mahatma Gandhi. After returning to Montgomery, King confronted the continuing ineffectiveness of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) by demanding personnel changes and agreeing to relocate to Atlanta at the beginning of 1960. King's move took place just before African American students in the South reclaimed the energy of the Montgomery bus boycott with their bold sit-in protests, which King predicted would become "an integral part of the history which is reshaping the world, replacing a dying order with modern democracy." He was arrested in October after participating in a sit-in protest in Atlanta. His resulting imprisonment led presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to phone his sympathies to King's wife, Coretta, a move many credit for providing the margin of victory in the close election of 1960.Illustrations: 36 b/w photographs, 1 map ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Insightful...
Volume V provides an in-depth look at the sit-in protests of the early 1960's and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s trip to India. There are many unpublished letters to/from a variety of people-all adding insight to the psyche of Dr. King's non-violent struggle; and his late involvement in the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy. ... Read more

Product Description
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s ideashis call for racial equality, his faith in the ultimate triumph of justice, his insistence on the power of nonviolence to bring about a major transformation of American societyare as vital and timely as ever. The wealth of his writings, both published and unpublished, are now preserved in this authoritative, chronologically arranged, multi-volume edition.Volume Two begins with King's doctoral work at Boston University and ends with his first year as pastor of the historic Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It includes papers from his graduate courses and a fully annotated text of his dissertation. There is correspondence with people King knew in his years prior to graduate school and a transcription of the first known recording of a King sermon. We learn, too, that Boston was where King met his future wife, Coretta Scott.Accepting the call to serve Dexter, the young King followed the church's tradition of socially active pastors by becoming involved in voter registration and other social justice issues. In Montgomery he completed his doctoral work, and he and Coretta Scott began their marriage.The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. represents a testament to a man whose life and teaching have had a profound influence, not only on Americans, but on people of all nations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The young MLK
Volume 1 of the King papers goes to 1951, when M.L. King, Jr., was 22.There are childhood letters to parents, but more interesting are student essays from Morehouse and Crozer, which show King gaining confidence and sophistication as his education progressed. ... Read more

Product Description
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s ideashis call for racial equality, his faith in the ultimate triumph of justice, his insistence on the power of nonviolence to bring about a major transformation of American societyare as vital and timely as ever. The wealth of his writings, both published and unpublished, is now preserved in this authoritative, chronologically arranged multi-volume edition. Volume III chronicles the Montgomery bus boycott of 1956 and Dr. King's emergence as a public figure who attracted international attention. Included is the galvanizing speech he gave on the first day of the bus boycott, transcribed from a fragile tape recording and published here in its entirety for the first time. Also included are his remarks to an angry crowd after the bombing of his home and his powerful speech at the 1956 NAACP convention. King's words from this period reveal the evolution of his distinctive blend of Christian and Gandhian ideas and show his appreciation of the broader significance of the Montgomery movement, a protest that revealed the "longing for human dignity that motivates oppressed people all over the world." The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a testament to a man whose life and teaching continue to have a profound influence not only on Americans, but on people of all nations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Another book on MLK?Yes -- and perhaps the best one yet
I reviewed this volume for the Southern Communication Journal and found it to be one of the most comprehensive historical compilations to address the American Civil Rights movement.Kudos to Carson for undertaking such anambitious project.In an age of sensationalism and revisionist histories,Carson and the rest of the King Papers Project have shown that accuratedocumentation, rather than speculation, yields priceless insight into Kingand the Montgomery bus protest, a key event in the American Civil Rightsmovement.

This volume combines letters (to and from King), speeches,newspaper articles, and other texts to illustrate the King's depth.We seehis religious upbringing, as evidenced in the influences of Ghandi andChristianity; his talent as a minister and an administrator, suggested bythe National Baptist Convention's invitation to serve them as theirpresident; and his intellectual aptitudes, shown in the strategy heemployed in the Montgomery protest.His decision to move towardincremental change (with full equality as a long-term end) is a majorreason why the Montgomery movement succeeded.Had he opted for anall-or-nothing, now-or-never approach, he would have encountered greaterresistance, and the movement might have ended while achieving little or noprogress.Instead,he lobbied for minor changes in an effort to gainmomentum for the larger movement -- an approach dismissed by more radicalmembers of the African-American community.For its insights into King thepreacher, King the scholar, King the strategic activist, this text is avaluable addition to the legacy of arguably the most influential Americanof the last century -- and likely the most influential one never to serveas U.S. President. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of wise and profound sayings by the civil rights leader draws on books, speeches, sermons, and other sources to present King's views on forgiveness, freedom, God, and other topics. ... Read more

Product Description
This definitive box set includes all the landmark speeches of the great orator and American leader Martin Luther King, Jr., from his inspirational "I Have a Dream" to his firey "Give Us the Ballot." Comprised of recordings previously included in A Call to Conscience and A Knock at Midnight, THE ESSENTIAL BOX SET is a must-have for any home, library, or school collection.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

DEFECTIVE on COMPUTERS - Do NOT Purchase!
SHAME on those responsible for producing and selling this fraudulent product!

Never has it been more important for Dr. King's words to be widely heard. This package should have facilitated that process. Instead, it impedes the process through its defectiveness.

To make a long story short, these audio CDs do not operate properly on a computer (or, therefore, on an iPod), which is presumably how most people would in 2010 and beyond try to listen to it. This was first reported (again, long story short) AT LEAST eight years ago. This box set's producers, therefore, had plenty of opportunities to correct the technical problems before releasing this version.

But the producers chose NOT to correct the technical problems.

Shame! The material here is too important and too worthwhile for so blatant a mistake in the first place. But to repackage and re-sell a known defect in the presentation of truly precious content is disgusting. Beneath contempt, really.

Anything for a buck, huh?

This collection will be treasured by many
Some men claim to be great, others live their greatness. This set contains all of original recordings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s landmark speeches and sermons. "The Essential Box Set" allows listeners to hear the eloquent voice that rocked a nation. Each speech and sermon are preceded by an introduction. Personally, I think the speeches stand better on their own. This collection will be treasured by many.

Offering for the first time over twenty original recordings from his speeches and sermons
Martin Luther King Jr.: Essential Box Set collects all the key speeches and sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., offering for the first time over twenty original recordings from his speeches and sermons. Each is accompanied by an introduction by other famous theologians and civil right leaders, making this a powerful pairing of firsthand testimony and King's own, powerful words. Any collection strong in civil rights history MUST have this! ... Read more

Product Description
Ralph David Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr. were inseparable and together helped to establish what would become the modern American Civil Rights Movement. They preached, marched, and were frequently jailed together. Donzaleigh Abernathy, Ralph’s youngest daughter, has written Partners to History as a testament to the courage, strength, and endurance of these men who stirred a nation with their moral fortitude. She also pays tribute to the thousands of unsung heroes—the other partners to this history—who were foot soldiers in the endless struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.This document captures in words and pictures how the dream of two visionaries changed the course of American history and inspired the world.

Partners to History is a unique look at a troubling time, and its usage of dramatic—and personal—photographs, combined with the voices of King and Abernathy, seamlessly conveys the fears, frustrations, and pain of the long days and nights spent planning the many crusades. Donzaleigh Abernathy’s recollections provide personal insight from someone who lived through the tumult and witnessed firsthand the relationship of these lifelong friends. “People didn’t know Daddy and Uncle Martin,” she writes. “They know the legends.They don’t know the fathers, the husbands, the men, the human beings. I feel obliged to tell the beautiful stories of these beautiful men I lived with and loved.”

Chronicling the crucial events of the movement, from the early strategy sessions in the homes of integrationists and the Montgomery Bus Boycott to Birmingham, the Freedom Riders, and the March on Washington, the author provides a unique insider’s perspective. With heart-wrenching precision, she lays bare the horrifying deaths of four little girls in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and follows the search for three murdered civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi. She goes behind the scenes to the intimate moments and reveals the determination of two families caught up in the fight for equal rights.

King and Abernathy believed in a cause and laid their lives on the line time and time again, knowing deep in their hearts that they were working not only for their people, but for the good of all humankind. When, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Ralph David Abernathy vowed to persevere and continue their dream, knowing that people could not be free until the walls came tumbling down.

Inspirational and beautifully illustrated, Partners to History reveals the remarkable relationship between two great leaders and serves as a reminder and tribute to this tumultuous era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

An incredibly BEAUTIFUL book!!!!!!!!
This is a book that every young adult and adults should have on their coffee table!!! Never before seen pictures and told through the eyes of a child through the civil rights movement this book is a refreshing, new insight that is a fast paced read!! A book to revist again and again!!!!!

Absolutely marvelous!!!!!!
Partners to History is a beautifully written and illustrated story of the Civil Rights Movement, its unsung heroes, its celebrated heroes, and the American struggle for freedom and peace. It is imperative that educational institutions withquality American history programs have this masterful work of historical literature on its shelves.

Carla Newsome McManus
Sisters and Brothers of HotLanta Book Club
http://www.sistersbrothers.com

Absolute marvelous!!!!!!!
Partners to History is a beautifully written and illustrated story of the Civil Rights Movement, its unsung heroes, its celebrated heroes, and the struggle for freedom in America. It is imperative that any school with a quality American history program have this masterful work of historic literature on its shelves.

Carla Newsome McManus
President
Sisters and Brothers of HotLanta Book Club
http://www.sistersbrothers.com

Excellent
This book is a must have. I think it should be in all public schools. The writer tells a beautiful story about the Civil Rights Movement. The pictures are fantastic while we have all seen pictures of the Movement, these pictures tell a story. Great Job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Extremely Powerful !!!
These images are worth more than 1 million words.They speak the truth with clarity that is rarely achieved in a discourse about race in America.This is American history in its true form.A great editing job and choice of photos.

THIS IS A CLASSIC HISTORY LESSON ... Read more

Product Description
Dedicated to documenting the life of America's best-known advocate for peace and justice, The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. breaks the chronology of its series to present King's never-before-published sermon file. In 1997 Mrs. Coretta Scott King granted the King Papers Project permission to examine papers kept in boxes in the basement of the Kings' home. The most significant finding was a battered cardboard box that held more than two hundred folders containing documents King used to prepare his celebrated sermons. This private collection that King kept in his study sheds considerable light on the theology and preaching preparation of one of the most noted orators of the modern era.
These illuminating papers reveal that King's concern about poverty, human rights, and social justice was clearly present in his earliest handwritten sermons, which conveyed a message of faith, hope, and love for the dispossessed. His enduring message can be charted through his years as a seminary student, as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, and, ultimately, as an internationally renowned proponent of human rights who saw himself mainly as a preacher and "advocate of the social gospel." Ten of the original and unedited sermons King submitted for publication in the 1963 book Strength to Love and audio versions of King's most famous sermons are the culmination of this groundbreaking work. ... Read more

Product Description
Marshall Frady, the reporter who became the unofficial chronicler of the civil rights movement, here re-creates the life and turbulent times of its inspirational leader. Deftly interweaving the story of King’s quest with a history of the African American struggle for equality, Frady offers fascinating insights into his subject’s magnetic character, with its mixture of piety and ambition. He explores the complexities of King’s relationships with other civil rights leaders, theKennedy and Johnson administrations, and the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover, who conducted a relentless vendetta against him. The result is a biography that conveys not just the facts of King’s life but the power of his legacy.Amazon.com Review
Unheroic in appearance, given to "deacon-sober suits" and "ponderous gravity," Martin Luther King Jr. ushered in an epochal era of change in the United States. Closely watching King'sjourney from Montgomery to Birmingham to the Lincoln Memorial to Memphis was journalist Marshall Frady, who honors the minister's achievement and spirit in this lucid biography.

"Almost a geological age ago, it seems now--that great moral saga of belief and violence that unfolded in the musky deeps of the South during the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties." So Frady opens his account, which traces King's transformation from withdrawn, unconfident child to eloquent champion of the oppressed, ever unafraid to trouble the waters. Frady explores King's conflicts, contradictions, and triumphs, as well as the great personal cost he bore in urging nonviolent change in a singularly violent time.

Part of the excellent Penguin Lives series, this slender volume sheds much light on a prophet now honored, but still too little understood. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

martin luther king
very interesting book.I have an issue with the author, the reader would have to have a PHD in English to understand a lot of the words. Why couldn't it be written in ordinary English so that ordinary not too educated could understand.

What is thePoint?
First of all this book is a collection big English words which makes it impossible to fully understand huge parts of the book. It makes it very frustrating to read. Secondly, the impression you get from reading the book is the effort to discredit the works of MLK. Unbelievably all the book does is to attempt to 'cut him to size' so to speak. This is not a balanced book.It contradicts every book or story told about MLK. I do not recommend this book and wish I could take my money back
I hate this book, yes I do

A Beautiful Little Profile in Dignity Courage and Agony
Marshall Frady's little biography of MLK Jr is a beautiful reminder of how lonely a prophet can be in his own land. King's trials and travails so fully recalled, his victories so few and yet so important, the tale of a man driven further and further towards his own vision of what is true and right, and thus driven further and further from the madding crowd. King lives in this profile in all his dignity, all his courage, but also all the agony that being nothing more than human brought to him.
And it brought me back to that wonderful moment in our own history when it was possible to truly believe there might be an end to poverty, as the nation's leading moral prophet and its President joined in this assumption, and for a brief golden shining moment, we imagined it was really going to happen.
Frady lets us live the difficult, frightening, lonesome historical progression to that moment, all the while realizing how many defeats there were, and how likely it was that King would have been forgotten, despised, a man of but a brief historical moment he may have outlived had he not been assassinated in 1968.
One could not ask for a finer brief depiction of what it was like to be caught up in history beyond one's control, beyond one's intention, but history nevertheless grasped by a questing mind and a brave soul.

Impossible for the common man to read
Mr Frady manages to use every big word in the English language, making it nearly impossible for this reader to get past page 25.Here is the final paragraph I read, before giving up in frustration:"As an accomodation of those two approaches, he took with huge enthusiasm to Hegel's idea of dialecticism: the continuous process in human understanding and history of a prevailing thesis inevitably invoking a contrary antithesis, the two then forming a synthesis that becomes the new thesis to be countered by its antithesis, an interplay endlessly progressing." I'll find another book to help me learn about the historic figure.

An Insightful and Evocative Summary Life
Marshall Frady has produced an insightful summary of the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. for the Penguin Lives series of short biographies. Working within the limitations of the series, Frady's synopsis breaks no new ground - King's life, campaigns, struggles and death are covered in just over 200 pages. But the object here is less to broaden or shape understanding than to evoke the spirit of the man and his times.

The key events of King's life are well known; here the story unfolds in a progression grounded in Biblical narrative. An explicit conceit of this work is a view of King as a latter-day prophet, an American Moses destined to point the way to the Promised Land, but not to reach it. The book's four major sections reflect this theme.

The first, titled "Out of Egypt", recalls King's childhood and education; his assumption of pastorly duties in Montgomery; and the first dramatic act of his civil rights career as an (initially reluctant) organizer of the 1955 bus boycott campaign. The second, "The Wilderness Time", recounts the aimlessness that settled over King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference following the Montgomery victory. Although it was an NAACP-led court victory and not the boycott campaign which finally won the day, Montgomery had vaulted him to national prominence and de facto leadership of the civil rights movement. A potential follow-up act wouldn't present itself until 1961; even then, King's foray into Albany, Georgia in support of the Albany Movement to end segregation in that remote locale produced no substantive gains.

In the meantime King had attracted the malevolent attentions of the reigning FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, whose grotesque character Frady evokes in a remarkable thumbnail sketch. "By the Fifties", Frady writes, Hoover "had become for much of the country... a kind of totem figure of law and uprightness." Yet his brand of law included domestic surveillance in the service of political blackmail. Impelled by racism and anticommunist paranoia, Hoover initiated a bugging and wiretap campaign against King.

Hoover's wiretaps revealed little in the way of communist plots, but they did evidence the serial adultery that seems to have begun in this period. Amazingly, King's dalliances never became public knowledge during his lifetime, even though Hoover deliberately made taped materials available to members of the press. Contrast this restraint with today's media behavior: as Frady acknowledges, "King could very likely never have survived now as the figure he was then."

The conflict between flesh and spirit was a constant theme in King's life. On the one hand, here was a man who eschewed public ostentation and sought to emulate Mahatma Gandhi; on the other, a womanizer and, it would appear, a plagiarist. But King's expression of the spiritual took other, powerful forms. He was frequently jailed in the course of his work for the movement and was no stranger to physical assault. By the fatal day in Memphis, King had already been punched, kicked, and stabbed by racist antagonists; all of which assaults he suffered with amazing forbearance. On one remarkable occasion of being repeatedly punched in the face, and the assailant having been wrestled to the ground by his entourage, King urged them: "Don't hurt him, we have to pray for him." As Frady suggests, the product of this frisson was a monumental oratorical power in communicating the message of nonviolence - a power that for America came to its fullest and most significant expression on the Washington Mall with the ringing proclamation: "I have a dream today!"

Section three, "Apotheosis", narrates the battle to integrate Birmingham, the symbolic pinnacle of the March on Washington, and the watershed of American conscience at Selma - culminating in the crowning achievement of King's life and struggle: the Voting Rights Act of 1964.

In Albany the movement had been "deprived... of those convulsive clashes that would have dramatized for the rest of the country the underlying barbarity of its segregationist order." In Birmingham the police were more obliging. After a slow start, King and his followers decided to mobilize schoolchildren in a bid to overwhelm the jail system and force a resolution. The controversial strategy worked; images of young people in their Sunday best pummeled by fire hoses sickened the nation. Under pressure from all sides, the municipal authorities were forced to concede.

And then came that speech in Washington. Time and distance can threaten to make a cliché of most anything, but Frady's retelling feels fresh in its evocation: "It had suddenly become a pentecostal moment. A huge shiver of exhilaration moved through the expanses of the throng..."

At Selma, the "underlying barbarity" was revealed for all to see, courtesy of the state police and national television. The spectacle of violence against innocent citizenry spurred the White House to action. Addressing the nation to announce the Voting Rights Act, (in a moment to make one feel keen regret at a legacy tarnished by Vietnam) President Johnson intoned: "... and we _shall_ overcome!"

In the book's final section, "The Far Country", we have the rest of the story - the Nobel Peace Prize, the Movement post-Selma, and the sudden end in Memphis. If King found himself "in the wilderness" after Albany, perhaps he was even more so after Selma. The movement's key objectives achieved, King set his sights on perhaps a more impossible dream: the reorganization of American life on egalitarian, socialist, grounds. Given the sweeping ambitions of the frustrated Chicago Movement and the grandiosity of the Poor People's Campaign, there is something poignant in the fact that what brought King to Memphis in April 1968 was no vast plan of social reorganization but mobilization in support of striking garbage workers.

If Frady's book is at times slightly overwritten ("the rhetoric of the human spirit immensely and elaborately gathering itself for slow and terrific struggle" [p. 35] feels like a blind stab at the Faulkneresque), it is also an effective, and at times even powerful, homage to one of our greatest Americans.
... Read more

Product Description

There has been recent controversy in the African American community about youth and their lack of appreciation for the gains of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This stellar biography is a superb introduction to the foremost leader of the civil rights movement. The story and historical context will be eye-opening for students and a good refresher for others who are too young to have remembered the events. In a gripping narrative style, the biography traces the young Martin, the son and grandson of formidable preachers, to his calling as a minister too, but one who would take on the entrenched racism of the South, and North, through a nonviolent movement that changed the course of American history.

There has been recent controversy in the African American community about youth and their lack of appreciation for the gains of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This stellar biography is a superb introduction to the foremost leader of the civil rights movement. The story and historical context will be eye-opening for students and a good refresher for others who are too young to have remembered the events. In a gripping narrative style, the biography traces the young Martin, the son and grandson of formidable preachers, to his calling as a minister too, but one who would take on the entrenched racism of the South, and North, through a nonviolent movement that changed the course of American history.

King's story is compelling, starting from his early nurtured family life in an insular community of blacks in Atlanta. His education at Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Boston University and courtship of Coretta Scott lead into the early days of the civil rights movement and King's leadership role in the major marches, demonstrations, boycotts, and sit-ins that took place, mainly in the South. Critical insight into the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations is given as King negotiates with the presidents for equal rights for blacks. The violent reactions against and hatred of many whites for those seeking racial justice are still shocking today. Against the backdrop of beatings, killings, bombings, threats, and imprisoning, King is portrayed as driven to lift up all Americans, even if it meant martyrdom.