King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

 

Title:  King:  A Life

Author:  Jonathan Eig

Narrated by:  Dion Graham

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Length: Approximately 20 hours and 45 minutes

Source: Review Copy from NetGalley

 

Have you ever read a biography about Martin Luther King Jr.?  I realized when this new biography of Martin Luther King Jr. came out last year that I’ve only read biographies of him written for children and it was more than time for me to read a biography of him written for adults.

King:  A Life is the first major new biography about Martin Luther King Jr in over forty years.   As it states in the introduction, this book is the biography of the real man, not of a saint.  He was a man with sins, doubts, and depression, but he also had a great vision for mankind and was a loving father.    It was a comprehensive biography that included interviews with a lot of different people in King’s life, his father’s unpublished biography, other biographies of those in his life (like his wife), and the FBI files that have been released.  It was a great overall look at King the man and the work that he did with his life.  My main takeaways were:

·       King suffered from what is now thought to be depression and anxiety.  He had anxiety attacks when he talked about how he may be killed.

·       People were trying to kill him all the time.  He was stabbed in the chest a book signing.  A bomb was place at this family home, but luckily didn’t go off.  He was constantly under threat.

·       It seemed strange that so many people wanted to use violence against a man who promoted non-violence.

·       White people thought that King was radical, while black people thought he was too conservative.

·       King cheated on Coretta Scott King from the moment they were dating and all through their married life.  I had a really hard time with this.  I know that other powerful men at the time such as JFK did the same thing, but King was a pastor.  The flagrant flouting of the ten commandments really bothered me. 

·       Speaking of Coretta Scott King, I want to read more about her.  She was a strong and smart woman on her own right that had to put her ambitions aside to become Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife.

·       The FBI and President Johnson were obsessed with King’s extramarital affairs and bringing him down.   

·       King’s children found out about his death on TV which I thought was heartbreaking.

·       King tried to make a social change.  Even though he used nonviolent methods, it caused strife, riots, burnings, personal persecution, and assassination.

·       The amount that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplished before dying at age 39 is amazing.

·       I loved the narrator of this audiobook, Dion Graham.  He had a deep soothing voice that was wonderful for narration.  He was also able to capture King’s cadence when he read quotes by him.

Overall, King:  A Life by Jonathan Eig was a fascinating and deep look into the man behind the martyr.  I am glad that I read this book.