King: A Life

Listen to the audiobook narration by Dion Graham: it elevates what is possibly one of the most engaging stories in American history, into something even better. When it comes to the speeches, the narrator NAILS the inflection and tone of MLK. Especially the “I Have a Dream Speech” where I found myself nearly in tears in hearing how it was described and how it impacted every single person in the audience. The book is not afraid of dramatizing events, but does it tastefully using primary sources and quotes that makes it as authentic as it is emotional. It reads like a novel. The narrator makes it even better.

King is an easy figure to deify; his place in history is shrouded in tragedy and reverence. He boasts the claim of being the only civilian to have a federal holiday named after him and for being the reason several civil rights legislation were able to be accomplished. But it is wrong to say that this man was perfect. Even as a man of God who was thrust into the nation's spotlight that demanded a spotless record to represent the Civil Rights Movement - he was a serial adulterer, often egotistical, and made mistakes that history has washed away in favor of not tarnishing his legacy. This book uses new evidence and interviews to show the side of King that is not shown to the public. While he is far from a bad man, he does succumb to temptation and the pressures that are oft born in the crucible of unexpected fame. Sometimes, someone has to make decisions that are bound to upset people who do not deserve to be wronged for the greater good.