Book Description

King is the first true photobiography of a hero's journey. Never before has his life been so richly chronicled from so many different points of view. A powerful collection of photographic images combined with text by National Book Awardwinning writer Charles Johnson detail the pivotal events of King's public life--as well as his family life--in a rich & stirring format. In this book, we see Martin Luther King, Jr., in all his aspects: as son & student, husband & father, powerful preacher & courageous leader of the civil rights movement, martyr for the cause of racial justice, & finally American icon. Photographer Bob Adelman & photo editor Robert Phelan have compiled an impressive & comprehensive array of images depicting this great man's life & times. We see King standing before a packed congregation at the Dexter Baptist Church during the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, or in his own backyard playing with his children. In one moment we observe King peering calmly through the bars of the Birmingham jail after one of his arrests; the next, strapping sandals on the feet of his young daughter. There is the tragic scene in Memphis seconds after his assassination, with anguished witnesses pointing in the direction of the gunshots, & the aftermath in Atlanta, a crush of mourners following his horse-drawn casket through the streets. And of course, the indelible image of King speaking the immortal words "I have a dream..." on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Through hundreds of photographs, we see a country being changed, an era & legacy being formed, but above all, we are given a privileged look at the man himself--at his most human & humanitarian.