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KING: A LIFE (YOUNG ADULT EDITION)

Yohuru Williams Michael G. Long Jonathan Eig

Hailed as "the most compelling account of [Martin Luther] King's life in a generation" by the Washington Post, the Pulitzer Prizewinning bestseller is now adapted for young adults in this new standard biography of the most famous civil rights activist in American History.
Often regarded as more of a myth and legend than man, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was many things throughout his storied life: student, activist, preacher, dreamer, father, husband. From his Atlanta childhood centered in the historically Black neighborhood of Sweet Auburn to his precipitous rise as a civil rights leader on the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, Dr. King would go on to become one of the most recognizable, influential, and controversial persons of the twentieth century. In this fast-paced and immersive adaptation of Jonathan Eig's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller readers will meet a Dr. King like no other: a committed radical whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime, a minister wrestling with his human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government. The inspiring young adult edition of King: A Life highlights the author's never-before-seen researchincluding recently declassified FBI documentswhile reaffirming and recontextualizing the lasting effects and implications of MLK's work for the present day. Adapted by National Book Awardnominated authors Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long, this biography for a new generation is a nuanced, unprecedented portrayal of a man who truly shook the world. Jonathan Eig is a former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. He is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Ali: A Life, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. Ken Burns calls him "a master storyteller," and Eig's books have been listed among the best of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated, and Slate. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children. Dr. Yohuru Williams (adapter) is the Distinguished University Chair and Professor of History and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. He has appeared on a variety of local and national television and radio programs, including the History Channel, CNN, NPR, BET, and ABC. Michael G. Long (adapter) is the author or editor of numerous books on nonviolent protest, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, politics, and religion. His books include Jackie Robinson: A Spiritual Biography and Unstoppable: How Bayard Rustin Organized the 1963 March on Washington. Together, Williams and Long have coauthored More Than a Dream: The Radical March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, and Call Him Jack: The Story of Jackie Robinson, Black Freedom Fighter.
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Published 2025-01-07 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Comments

An honest and engaging account of King. Harsh truths about the state of the country, as well as the difficulties endured by persons of color, underscore how far the U.S. has come, and still has to go, on the journey to achieve King's dream . . . A good choice to middle and high school biography shelves.

This searching study leaves King's shining legacy intact, all the more admirable for its attachment to a fallible man who is glimpsed here behind the icon. A frank and nuanced character study.

Decades of Martin Luther King Jr. biographies may suggest that there's no uniquely compelling approach left to documenting the life of the oft-lionized civil rights leader, but award-winning biographer Eig frames this adapted edition as an effort to make Dr. King 'a person, not just a monument, not just a holiday, not just Mr. I-Have-a-Dream.' . . . While the backmatter offers the meat for potential Black history month book reports (e.g., extra facts, a timeline), a strength of this young readers' edition is how it whets the appetite for further exploration of this invaluable historical moment as well as Little Mike himself.

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Eig, along with Williams and Long, presents a comprehensive time line of Martin Luther King's entire life, from birth to untimely death . . . By describing who King was as a person and how he came to achieve what he did, this supports young readers' journeys to not just read about King but to understand him.