King

By telling King's life as one on the verge of reaching its fullest fulfillment, Sitkoff shows where King's faith and activism were leading him - to a direct confrontation with a president over an immoral war and with an America blind to its complicity in economic injustice.

Review :
"Sitkoff provides a vivid portrait that deserves to be widely read, not only as the standard short King biography but also as an incisive essay on his significance today."--"The San Francisco Chronicle" "In his admiring new biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., "King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop" (Hill and Wang, $25), Harvard Sitkoff wants to remind us of his subject's subversive agenda, and to banish the 'airbrushed' portrait of a 'moderate, respectable ally of presidents' . . . Mr. Sitkoff argues that the more militant King is the more relevant King. And he's right."--"The New York Observer" "Persuasive... Sitkoff's skillful choice of material, his organization of the text and his fine writing style (especially compared with most academic historians) raise the biography to the top rank of books about King."--"The News and Observer" "An excellent and necessary short biography."--"The Brooklyn Rail" "A valuable addition to King scholarship... "King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop" is clearly the best short biography we have of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Its lucid and accessible style makes this text appealing far beyond a limited community of experts. It's a must-read for all who have an interest in King's life and legacy." --"Atlanta"" Journal-Constitution" "A marvelous read and striking achievement! This engrossing and perceptive biography offers a balanced yet critical analysis of both Martin Luther King Jr. and his epochal times in their full complexity." --Waldo Martin, U.C. Berkeley, author of "No Coward Soldiers: Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America" "In this richly accessible and commanding study, Harvard Sitkoff provides a timely reminder of the enduringsignificance of Martin Luther King's spiritual strivings and quest for social justice. A welcome contribution to the King canon, "King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop" brims with insights into the African American most emblematic of the modern Civil Rights Movement." --Darlene Clark Hine, Northwestern University "Drawing on his expertise in the history of the civil rights movement, Harvard Sitkoff has produced the finest brief biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. The man who emerges is not the homogenized King celebrated every January, but a radical critic of military adventurism and economic and racial injustice, who speaks to the present as powerfully as to his own time." --Eric Foner, Columbia University ""King" is a perfect combination of author and subject: one of the deans of civil rights history tracing the life of the movement's towering figure. Harvard Sitkoff has performed a remarkable feat, giving us a biography of Martin Luther King that is simultaneously concise and complex, judicious and deeply moving. What a marvelous recounting of this most important of American stories."--Kevin Boyle, Ohio State University, author of the National Book Award-winning "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age" "Sitkoff's book on King reads like a dream. Packed with vibrant quotations from King himself, it becomes a living narrative of how this giant among American political leaders moved on his mission to serve his people and his God, undeterred by the fearsome obstacles strewn in his path by everyone from his own father to the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, to President Lyndon Johnson. A spellbinder, it brings all the good work of David Garrow and Taylor Branch tobear on understanding this critical figure of our time, and in less than 300 pages." --William Chafe, Duke University "A marvelous read and striking achievement! This engrossing and perceptive biography offers a balanced yet critical analysis of both Martin Luther King Jr. and his epochal times in their full complexity." --Waldo Martin, U.C. Berkeley, author of "No Coward Soldiers: Black Cultural Politics in Postwar America" "In this richly accessible and commanding study, Harvard Sitkoff provides a timely reminder of the enduring significance of Martin Luther King's spiritual strivings and quest for social justice. A welcome contribution to the King canon, "King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop" brims with insights into the African American most emblematic of the modern Civil Rights Movement." --Darlene Clark Hine, Northwestern University "Drawing on his expertise in the history of the civil rights movement, Harvard Sitkoff has produced the finest brief biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. The man who emerges is not the homogenized King celebrated every January, but a radical critic of military adventurism and economic and racial injustice, who speaks to the present as powerfully as to his own time." --Eric Foner, Columbia University ""King" is a perfect combination of author and subject: one of the deans of civil rights history tracing the life of the movement's towering figure. Harvard Sitkoff has performed a remarkable feat, giving us a biography of Martin Luther King that is simultaneously concise and complex, judicious and deeply moving. What a marvelous recounting of this most important of American stories."--Kevin Boyle, Ohio State University, author of the National Book Award-winning "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age " "Sitkoff's book on Kingreads like a dream. Packed with vibrant quotations from King himself, it becomes a living narrative of how this giant among American political leaders moved on his mission to serve his people and his God, undeterred by the fearsome obstacles strewn in his path by everyone from his own father to the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, to President Lyndon Johnson. A spellbinder, it brings all the good work of David Garrow and Taylor Branch to bear on understanding this critical figure of our time, and in less than 300 pages." --William Chafe, Duke University "In this richly accessible and commanding study, Harvard Sitkoff provides a timely reminder of the enduring significance of Martin Luther King's spiritual strivings and quest for social justice. A welcome contribution to the King canon, "King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop" brims with insights into the African American most emblematic of the modern Civil Rights Movement." --Darlene Clark Hine, Northwestern University "Drawing on his expertise in the history of the civil rights movement, Harvard Sitkoff has produced the finest brief biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. The man who emerges is not the homogenized King celebrated every January, but a radical critic of military adventurism and economic and racial injustice, who speaks to the present as powerfully as to his own time." --Eric Foner, Columbia University ""King" is a perfect combination of author and subject: one of the deans of civil rights history tracing the life of the movement's towering figure. Harvard Sitkoff has performed a remarkable feat, giving us a biography of Martin Luther King that is simultaneously concise and complex, judicious and deeply moving. What a marvelous recounting of this most important of American stories."--Kevin Boyle, Ohio State University, author of the National Book Award-winning "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age " "Sitkoff's book on King reads like a dream. Packed with vibrant quotations from King himself, it becomes a living narrative of how this giant among American political leaders moved on his mission to serve his people and his God, undeterred by the fearsome obstacles strewn in his path by everyone from his own father to the FBI's J.Edgar Hoover, to President Lyndon Johnson. A spellbinder, it brings all the good work of David Garrow and Taylor Branch to bear on understanding this critical figure of our time, and in less than 300 pages." --William Chafe, Duke University "Drawing on his expertise in the history of the civil rights movement, Harvard Sitkoff has produced the finest brief biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. The man who emerges is not the homogenized King celebrated every January, but a radical critic of military adventurism and economic and racial injustice, who speaks to the present as powerfully as to his own time." --Eric Foner, Columbia University ""King" is a perfect combination of author and subject: one of the deans of civil rights history tracing the life of the movement's towering figure. Harvard Sitkoff has performed a remarkable feat, giving us a biography of Martin Luther King that is simultaneously concise and complex, judicious and deeply moving. What a marvelous recounting of this most important of American stories."--Kevin Boyle, Ohio State University, author of the National Book Award-winning "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age " "Sitkoff's book on King reads like a dream. Packed with vibrant quotations from King himself, it becomes a living narrative of how this giant among American political leaders moved on his mission to serve his people and his God, undeterred by the fearsome obstacles strewn in his path by everyone from his own father to the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, to President Lyndon Johnson. A spellbinder, it brings all the good work of David Garrow and Taylor Branch to bear on understanding this critical figure of our time, and in less than 300 pages."--William Chafe, Duke University "Thanks for sending the manuscript. It is superb, and will take it's place as the best brief history of King that we have. I think the interpretive correction--King was truly radical--is timely and brings together threads of the story in a coherent and eye-opening way. And I love the writing--passionate, appropriately dramatic at points. This is the book everyone seeking an introduction to King, and every undergraduate, should read. My only question is a small one: in the preface, Harvard justifies the way the book ends. I do not think he needs to do so. The meaning of King after his death is indeed another book. The arc of this book, from birth to death, is complete." --Louis Masur, Trinity College ""King" is a perfect combination of author and subject: one of the deans of civil rights history tracing the life of the movement's towering figure. Harvard Sitkoff has performed a remarkable feat, giving us a biography of Martin Luther King that is simultaneously concise and complex, judicious and deeply moving. What a marvelous recounting of this most important of American stories."--Kevin Boyle, Ohio State University, author of the National Book Award-winning "Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age " "Sitkoff's book on King reads like a dream. Packed with vibrant quotations from King himself, it becomes a living narrative of how this giant among American political leaders moved on his mission to serve his people and his God, undeterred by the fearsome obstacles strewn in his path by everyone from his own father to the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, to President Lyndon Johnson. A spellbinder, it brings all the good work of David Garrow and Taylor Branch to bear on understanding this critical figure of our time, and in less than 300 pages." --William Chafe, Duke University "Thanks for sending the manuscript. It is superb, and will take it's place as the best brief history of King that we have. I think the interpretive correction--King was truly radical--is timely and brings together threads of the story in a coherent and eye-opening way. And I love the writing--passionate, appropriately dramatic at points. This is the book everyone seeking anintroduction to King, and every undergraduate, should read. My only question is a small one: in the preface, Harvard justifies the way the book ends. I do not think he needs to do so. The meaning of King after his death is indeed another book. The arc of this book, from birth to death, is complete." --Louis Masur, Trinity College