Key Reading on Martin Luther King, Jr.

To see whether titles featured below are available in a library in your area, click on the hyperlinked ISBN numbers in the records to access  the WorldCat  database; fill in the “Enter Location Information” box that appears below the record to view a list of libraries in your area that own the title.

Baldwin, Lewis V.  The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.: the boundaries of law, politics, and religion, by Lewis V. Baldwin with Rufus Burrow, Jr., Barbara A. Holmes, and Susan Holmes Winfield.  Notre Dame, 2002.  316p index afp ISBN 0-268-03355-2  pbk, $24.95. Reviewed in 2002oct CHOICE.
40-1205  E185   MARC
 
Baldwin (Vanderbilt Univ.) has established himself among the preeminent scholars on King and the Civil Rights Movement. This book comprises four essays by Baldwin, an essay by Rufus Burrow, and one by Barbara Holmes and Susan Holmes Winfield. Together they demonstrate that King’s vision and activism profoundly changed American culture, politics, and law, and that his political theology and social thought remain relevant to contemporary social problems and global issues. Baldwin’s essays address King’s relationship to and the development of the concept of the “New South,” his creative development of the relationship of church and state, his tense struggle with political parties and the Washington elite, and his constructive involvement in and relevance for global politics. Baldwin’s scholarship is impressive, and his essays are clear and engaging. Burrow argues that King’s development of the philosophy of personalism remains a sound foundation for social ethics and for social change. The Holmes sisters examine how King’s activism creatively changed American law. This book argues persuasively that King was much more than a dreamer: he was a thinker and activist who had a deep effect on culture and politics; his ideas remain relevant. For general readers, graduate students, researchers, and faculty. — J. M. Thompson, Bellarmine University 

Branch, Taylor.  At Canaan’s edge: America in the King years, 1965-68.  Simon & Schuster, 2006.  1,039p bibl index ISBN 0-684-85712-X , $35.00.  Outstanding Title! Reviewed in 2006jul CHOICE.
43-6736  E185  2005-40177 CIP 

Branch brings to conclusion his remarkable biography of Martin Luther King Jr. (Parting the Waters, CH, Jun’89, 26-5831; Pillar of Fire, 1999) with this exhaustively researched and compellingly written volume that powerfully sets forth a portrait of King as a critically important figure in post-WW II US history. The book covers the last three years of King’s life, proceeding from a comprehensive treatment of Selma to his martyrdom at Memphis. Branch throws into clear relief the passionate dedication, tactical flexibility, and charisma that King brought to his leadership role. His book shows that civil rights, economic justice, and antimilitarism were connected elements of King’s ministry, from which he would not be shaken. Branch is candid about the reality that King, subject to immense pressures, was not without frailties. Surely personal weaknesses made him vulnerable to attack, but he never bartered away his convictions. When dealing with King’s response to the Vietnam War, Branch is overly restrained in his treatment of Lyndon Johnson, but he is unsparing in his indictment of racist J. Edgar Hoover’s vendetta. That Hoover was kept on for decades as FBI director is a rebuke to much of this nation’s political leadership. Branch has made a memorable contribution to historical scholarship that merits the widest possible readership. Summing Up: Essential. Every public and academic library. — H. Shapiro, emeritus, University of Cincinnati 

Burns, Stewart.  To the mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.’s sacred mission to save America, 1955-1968.  HarperSanFrancisco, 2004.  502p index ISBN 0-06-054245-4 , $27.95. Reviewed in 2004sep CHOICE.
42-0509  E185  2003-56960 MARC 
 
Burns (College of the Redwoods) explores the rise of Martin Luther King Jr. to a position of foremost leadership in the 20th-century struggle for human rights. King charted a direction for the struggle that related the local scene to a world in social upheaval, linking the ideology of Gandhian nonviolence to the heritage of the black church. Beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which projected King’s leadership onto the national scene, Burns turns to the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Albany Movement of the early 1960s. The book gives a sharply etched portrait of “Bombingham,” the city’s domination by the corporate “Big Mules,” and the violent racism that maintained the status quo. The author clarifies the radical core of King’s leadership in his favoring democratic socialism, and his intense desire to be right on the war question. The last chapters provide gripping accounts of the Selma struggle and King’s crusade against the Vietnam War. Occasionally there are hasty characterizations; Burns’s knowledge of King’s psychology, while often insightful, sometimes runs beyond the evidence. All in all, however, this is an impressive, finely crafted work that merits attention by anyone interested in King’s life and the general course of 20th-century social change. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/collections. — H. Shapiro, University of Cincinnati 

Burrow, Rufus, Jr.  God and human dignity: the personalism, theology, and ethics of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Notre Dame, 2006.  337p bibl index afp ISBN 0-268-02194-5 , $65.00; ISBN 9780268021955 pbk, $30.00; ISBN 9780268021948 , $65.00; ISBN 0268021953  pbk, $30.00. Reviewed in 2006nov CHOICE.
44-1451  B828  2006-1562 CIP
 
Burrow (Christian Theological Seminary) offers a well-written analysis of the intellectual tradition of personalism. He shows how the tradition influenced Martin Luther King Jr.’s theology and ethics, and how King in turn made his own unique contributions to this system of thought. The author demonstrates that from his early childhood, King had a passion for social justice for black Americans, rooted in the experiences of his family and church. The insights of personalism were crucial as he developed his own understanding of theology and ethics in terms of his leadership of the Civil Rights Movement in the US. The book does not avoid the criticisms made regarding inconsistencies between King’s understanding of personalism and the fact that he did not take sexism as seriously as he did racism. A concluding chapter shows how King’s theology and ethical understanding evolved over time, leading him to publicly oppose the Vietnam War, despite criticism not only from those who opposed the Civil Rights Movement, but also from his own supporters in the black community. This book is both an excellent introduction to King’s thought and an excellent survey of scholarship on this aspect of King’s life and contributions. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. — C. L. Hansen, formerly, Midland Lutheran College 

Colaiaco, James A.  Martin Luther King, Jr.: apostle of militant nonviolence.  St. Martin’s, 1989 (c1988).  238p bibl index ISBN 0-312-02365-0 , $29.95. Reviewed in 1989jun CHOICE.
26-5832  E185.97.K5  88-14900 CIP 
 
Colaiaco’s book fills a very important place in the historiography of Martin Luther King Jr. It is a short, thorough work that touches all the main issues and themes, and puts them into the context of the times. The book can serve as supplemental reading on the Civil Rights Movement for high schools and colleges, or it can be the source of fresh understanding for members of the general public who lived through the era but did not comprehend the struggle. More than a fact-by-fact biography, Colaiaco’s study reveals the ideological contradictions (e.g., the paradox of provocative nonviolence) underlying the events he describes. The book is not so detailed or definitive as David Garrow’s Bearing the Cross (CH, Apr ’87), or Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters (1988), but its quality and accessibility should send readers from its pages to the more detailed works. Good selected bibliography; index. — J. H. Smith, Wake Forest University 

Dyson, Michael Eric.  I may not get there with you: the true Martin Luther King, Jr.  Free Press, 2000.  404p bibl index ISBN 0-684-86776-1 , $25.00. Reviewed in 2000jun CHOICE.
37-5849  E185  99-40478 CIP 

Dyson’s book is a very interesting, at times provocative, new interpretation of the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dyson argues that King “was a man who was deeply human, deeply flawed, yet truly amazing. In the last thirty years we have trapped King in romantic images or frozen his legacy in worship. I seek to rescue King from his admirers and deliver him from his foes.” The author does not provide real research findings, but from the ample printed sources he confronts some of the toughest issues raised about King’s life in recent years. Dyson focuses especially on King’s final years and his changing views on the radical restructuring of the US, his criticism of the Vietnam War, and his acceptance of aspects of black nationalism and black pride. There are also thoughtful and thorough discussions of King’s human flaws–his acts of plagiarism, his womanizing, his sensational lack of attention to his wife and family. Dyson also forthrightly confronts recent efforts of the King family to secure perhaps unseemly commercial benefits from the King legacy. Throughout the book, the author maintains an ultimate sense of balance and support for the Martin Luther King of historical reality. That is both refreshing and helpful for any reader. All levels. — J. F. Findlay, University of Rhode Island 
  
Jackson, Thomas F.  From civil rights to human rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the struggle for economic justice.  Pennsylvania, 2007.  459p bibl index afp ISBN 0-8122-3969-5 , $39.95; ISBN 9780812239690 , $39.95. Reviewed in 2007nov CHOICE.
45-1646  E185  2006-50930 CIP
 
In this initial offering of the publisher’s “Politics and Culture in Modern America” series, Jackson (Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro) attacks mythologies that have surrounded Martin Luther King, Jr., distorting his purposes and what he sought to accomplish. To Jackson, King was much more than a civil rights leader; he “did not rise up suddenly against poverty and war when American cities burned and Vietnamese villagers fled American napalm …. [These] lifelong convictions grew from deep roots in the black freedom movement and the democratic left.” Thus, Jackson presents a more militant King–one who may be unacceptable today to those politicians and corporate leaders who rule the US as they frequently present to the public an acceptable, moderate, “I Have a Dream” King. The author’s interpretation may raise questions, but this book is a notable contribution to social, cultural, economic, and African American studies. Taylor Branch’s At Canaan’s Edge (CH, Jul’06, 43-6736) is a valuable companion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — P. D. Travis, Texas Woman’s University 

King, Martin Luther.  The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: v.1: Called to serve, January 1929-June 1951; v.2: Rediscovering precious values, July 1951-November 1955, ed. by Clayborne Carson et al.  California, 1992.  2v. 484, 645p index afp ISBN 0-520-07950-7 , v.1; ISBN 0-520-07951-5 , v.2; $35.00 ea. Reviewed in 1995jun CHOICE.
32-5854  E185  91-42336 CIP 
  
In the first two volumes of a projected multivolume series of the papers of Martin Luther King Jr., volume 1 covers childhood through his graduation from Crozer Theological Seminary; volume 2 moves from King’s years at Boston University, through his first year at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, to the eve of the bus boycott. The material is selected but representative. Each volume also includes, for the time period involved, an introduction, essentially a serial biography; a chronology of King’s life and related events; a calendar of known King writings, whether printed in the volume or not; and an index and illustrations. Each item also includes a headnote and the editors’ annotations, in impeccable scholarly style. In both volumes, the editors address clearly and unemotionally the controversial issue of King’s plagiarism as a student, noting that although there is no evidence that King knowingly plagiarized, his written work is “flawed by unacknowledged textual appropriations.” The editors’ citations from the other works involved allow readers to make their own judgments. These papers, with their masterly editorial work, offer general readers and scholars a wealth of insights into King’s personal and religious development in his formative years. Upper-division undergraduates and above. — T. H. Baker, University of Arkansas at Little Rock 

Kotz, Nick.  Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the laws that changed America.  Houghton Mifflin, 2005.  522p bibl index ISBN 0-618-08825-3 , $26.00. Reviewed in 2005nov CHOICE.
43-1790  E847  2004-59852 CIP
 
Can anything fresh be written about the Civil Rights Movement, and particularly about the roles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon Johnson? The answer is a surprising yes. Defying the trend in civil rights scholarship that concentrates on grassroots activism rather than leadership, Kotz examines the elitist of the elites, probing the relationship between King and Johnson. His interpretation reflects the consensus of historians–that King and Johnson never fully trusted each other but found it convenient to cooperate until the achievement of the legislative milestones of 1964 and 1965, and that they parted ways after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, when King spoke out against the war in Vietnam and poverty in the US. But Kotz enriches his narrative with material unavailable to earlier chroniclers: LBJ’s telephone conversations, new interviews, and recently declassified FBI documents. Indeed, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s pursuit of King was so relentless that he almost joins King and Johnson on the title page. Examining the King-Johnson relationship allows the narrative to move smoothly between the major protests across the South and the legislative maneuvering in Washington, adding fluidity to a well-written account. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels and libraries. — A. J. Dunar, University of Alabama in Huntsville 

     
The Martin Luther King, Jr. papers project at Stanford University.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 1999oct CHOICE.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/mlkpapers/
37-1123

Stanford University’s Internet site for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers is an ambitious undertaking, which when completed will prove valuable to users at all levels. For scholars the potential is immense. The site has begun the process of placing the contents of the published volumes of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. (v. 1, CH, Jun’95) online. Currently the full text versions of almost half the documents in volume 1, which covers January 1929 through June 1951, are available on the site. Two other features of this site also will appeal to scholars. First, there is a searchable bibliography of 2,700 items related to King. Second, the site has a link to Life magazine’s archive of King photographs. Students and the general public will also appreciate this site. It offers an excellent detailed chronology of King’s career, a short biographical overview of King, and links to other sites of interest to students of King. The best of these, especially for students, is the one provided by the Seattle Times, which includes articles by those who knew King personally, text and sound files of King speeches, and a virtual classroom for students to explore and exchange ideas about King. On the whole this site is well laid out and easy to navigate. The home page offers a set of clear choices that provide access to the major areas of the site. Quality is maintained by limiting content to scholarly material and material from responsible journalists. The major problems are those typical of a new site still under development. Much of the projected content is not yet available online, and some links are dated. — C. D. Wintz, Texas Southern University 

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