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janetreads 's review for:
King: A Life
by Jonathan Eig
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
I thought this was great. As a caveat I had never read a full length work on Dr King before, so I can’t compare it from the numerous others. But I am an American (and I hope a fairly well informed one) who of course grew up with Dr King as one of those Big Figures in American history and was aware of some of the critiques of his work and personal life etc. This book did so much for me. Prominently a clearer understanding of the timeline of the whole civil rights movement. So many of these events we learn about as separate entities, perhaps linking one or two in a chain ; but with King’s life as a thread we’re really able to see a fuller picture and see the complexities of intentions and reactions in each. And I’ve come away with a better understanding of King’s own life — how young he was when he began (25 at Montegomery) and how intensely he worked. So much of the post-March on Washington events of his life were largely unknown to me — Chicago completely so. But I think that drives into Eig’s point in the conclusion: by hallowing King we have hollowed him.
Eig gave a fuller picture of King’s spiritual and intellectual development than I had learned of in other settings. It’s made me now want to turn to other authors who specialize in that aspect and learn more. It’s clear Eig did extensive research and pulled from a lot of sources (including FBI files and recordings as they become available). I listened to this as an audiobook but I’d love to read a physical copy some day and dig into the footnotes — the moments where Eig wrote from another observer’s view of an event or one of King’s oration were really deftly handled and carried the narrative in a wonderful way — I want to know where he drew some of these from. I am hoping perhaps for second edition as the rest of the FBI files are released.
I’ll be thinking about this for a long time and will have a lot more to say than these scattered thoughts. But in general- I highly recommend.
I’d also like to say the audiobook was done extraordinarily well. It would be a shame not to have it so, with King’s voice being so famous. But really very good production in the audiobook side.
Eig gave a fuller picture of King’s spiritual and intellectual development than I had learned of in other settings. It’s made me now want to turn to other authors who specialize in that aspect and learn more. It’s clear Eig did extensive research and pulled from a lot of sources (including FBI files and recordings as they become available). I listened to this as an audiobook but I’d love to read a physical copy some day and dig into the footnotes — the moments where Eig wrote from another observer’s view of an event or one of King’s oration were really deftly handled and carried the narrative in a wonderful way — I want to know where he drew some of these from. I am hoping perhaps for second edition as the rest of the FBI files are released.
I’ll be thinking about this for a long time and will have a lot more to say than these scattered thoughts. But in general- I highly recommend.
I’d also like to say the audiobook was done extraordinarily well. It would be a shame not to have it so, with King’s voice being so famous. But really very good production in the audiobook side.