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erinricks's review
5.0
I love the audiobook narrator haha, but this book was so compelling and interesting!
screamingbz's review
challenging
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Super dense but stays captivating and hard to look away from
bargainsleuth's review against another edition
5.0
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Sometimes there’s nothing better for me than diving into an 800+ page biography of someone you know something about but want to know more. I opted to get the audiobook version of this book, which clocks in at more than 20 hours.
I’ve not read or listened to any other MLK Jr biographies, other than children’s biographies when I was growing up. What I know about King is what I’ve read in terms of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations’ work with civil rights legislation, and from what I’ve seen from a few documentaries on the subject of the Civil Rights Movement. So this comprehensive and well-researched biography was a must for me.
In some ways, there’s nothing new to see here, as most of the information that has come to light in recent years (like the release of FBI Files) has already been in the news. However, it’s good to go over all the new documents and form an extensive look at a complicated man. King was no saint, he certainly was a sinner, had blinders on sometimes when it came to the cause and refused to see the bigger picture, yet his influence cannot be denied.
There are some salacious truths about King’s personal life, and I’m not going to rehash them here, but they are mentioned in the book and not covered up in order to make King saint-like. I also pay attention to how a person treated their family and how the kids turned out. All of his kids say he was an absent father because of how much he travelled but was an active participant in their lives when he was around, which was rare. Coretta Scott King essentially raised those kids on her own, even before King’s assassination. His wife and children picked up the mantle and continued with his cause after he was gone.
The book isn’t perfect; as with any 800 page book, one often wonders why a certain tidbit was included and not edited out, but it is worth a read or listen if you want to strip away the built-up myth of Martin Luther King Jr and want to find the man behind it.
Sometimes there’s nothing better for me than diving into an 800+ page biography of someone you know something about but want to know more. I opted to get the audiobook version of this book, which clocks in at more than 20 hours.
I’ve not read or listened to any other MLK Jr biographies, other than children’s biographies when I was growing up. What I know about King is what I’ve read in terms of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations’ work with civil rights legislation, and from what I’ve seen from a few documentaries on the subject of the Civil Rights Movement. So this comprehensive and well-researched biography was a must for me.
In some ways, there’s nothing new to see here, as most of the information that has come to light in recent years (like the release of FBI Files) has already been in the news. However, it’s good to go over all the new documents and form an extensive look at a complicated man. King was no saint, he certainly was a sinner, had blinders on sometimes when it came to the cause and refused to see the bigger picture, yet his influence cannot be denied.
There are some salacious truths about King’s personal life, and I’m not going to rehash them here, but they are mentioned in the book and not covered up in order to make King saint-like. I also pay attention to how a person treated their family and how the kids turned out. All of his kids say he was an absent father because of how much he travelled but was an active participant in their lives when he was around, which was rare. Coretta Scott King essentially raised those kids on her own, even before King’s assassination. His wife and children picked up the mantle and continued with his cause after he was gone.
The book isn’t perfect; as with any 800 page book, one often wonders why a certain tidbit was included and not edited out, but it is worth a read or listen if you want to strip away the built-up myth of Martin Luther King Jr and want to find the man behind it.