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A review by kahuggs
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
5.0
A propulsive biography that restores the canonized civil rights leader, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, to flesh and blood. I am impressed by how engrossing this book is—a surprise for a doorstop biography. The author takes great effort to emphasize Dr. King’s deeply held religious faith and how it fueled the conviction behind his activism. It also restores Dr. King’s evolving radical philosophy from the sanitized public narrative. The audiobook narrator is especially captivating.
The midway point of this book devotes two chapters to the March on Washington: one on Dr. King’s preparations for his I Have a Dream Speech; another from the perspective of attendees at the Lincoln Memorial. These sections of narration are especially captivating—the very familiar speech is restored to its original electrifying impact.
The chapter on Dr. King’s assassination and funeral and the subsequent rioting is jarringly brief and haunting in its stark brevity. There are other books for that; this book resists the impulse to make the man into a martyr. This biography is an astounding achievement.
The midway point of this book devotes two chapters to the March on Washington: one on Dr. King’s preparations for his I Have a Dream Speech; another from the perspective of attendees at the Lincoln Memorial. These sections of narration are especially captivating—the very familiar speech is restored to its original electrifying impact.
The chapter on Dr. King’s assassination and funeral and the subsequent rioting is jarringly brief and haunting in its stark brevity. There are other books for that; this book resists the impulse to make the man into a martyr. This biography is an astounding achievement.