About the Book
In this "slim but powerful book," the award-winning journalist shares the dramatic story surrounding MLK's most famous speech and its importance today (Boston Globe).
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where he delivered the most iconic speech of the civil rights movement. In The Speech, Gary Younge explains why King's "I Have a Dream" speech maintains its powerful social relevance by sharing the dramatic story surrounding it. Today, that speech endures as a guiding light in the ongoing struggle for racial equality.
Younge roots his work in personal interviews with Clarence Jones, a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and his draft speechwriter; with Joan Baez, a singer at the march; and with Angela Davis and other leading civil rights leaders. Younge skillfully captures the spirit of that historic day in Washington and offers a new generation of readers a critical modern analysis of why "I Have a Dream" remains America's favorite speech.
"Younge's meditative retrospection on [the speech's] significance reminds us of all the micro-moments of transformation behind the scenes--the thought and preparation, vision and revision--whose currency fed that magnificent lightning bolt in history." --Patricia J. Williams, legal scholar and theorist
About the Author :
Gary Younge is an author, broadcaster, and award-winning columnist for the Guardian, based in Chicago. He also writes a monthly column for The Nation magazine and is the Alfred Knobler Fellow for The Nation Institute. Born in Britain to Barbadian parents, Younge reported all over Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean before being appointed the Guardian's US correspondent in 2003. In 2009 he won Britain's prestigious James Cameron Award for "combined moral vision and professional integrity." His first book, No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey through the Deep South, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His third book, Who Are We--and Should It Matter in the 21st Century?, was shortlisted for the Bristol Festival of Ideas Book Prize. The Speech is his fourth book.
Review :
"[In] this slim but powerful book... Younge is adept at both distilling the facts and asking blunt questions."
"Boston Globe"
"Unequivocal . . ."
"Financial Times"
"[An] often highly entertaining saga of the clashing egos engaged in the drafting... [with] a compelling, beat-by-beat analysis of a myth's creation: King's delivery of 'the Speech' on the day."
"The Independent"
"Younge provides new insight into the roles of key civil rights leaders in a captivating story that is eloquently written and punctuated with surprising detail. More importantly, the book sheds new light on Dr. King and paints him in a way that portrays the true grit and determination that stuck with him like the many followers he inspired and led."
"The Grio"
"It is refreshing to find an opus like this being published on the 50th anniversary to remind us of the true meaning of Dr. King s moving remarks. Younge... does a masterful job of not only dissecting Dr. King s words, but of filling in much of the back story to the events leading up to his taking the podium."
Kam Williams, "Baltimore Afro-American"
"Martin Luther King's 1963 'I have a dream' speech was a thrilling milestone in the civil rights movement, so enduring that we tend to attribute its searing power to a kind of magic. But Gary Younge's meditative retrospection on its significance reminds us of all the micro-moments of transformation behind the scenes--the thought and preparation, vision and revision--whose currency fed that magnificent lightning bolt in history."
Patricia J. Williams
"Younge needs only a few words to get to the root of the matter, doing so with a gut punch as the topic requires... [he] offers an insightful and unvarnished interpretation of the speech [and its] aftermath."
ForeWord Reviews
"
"Martin Luther King's 1963 'I have a dream' speech was a thrilling milestone in the civil rights movement, so enduring that we tend to attribute its searing power to a kind of magic. But Gary Younge's meditative retrospection on its significance reminds us of all the micro-moments of transformation behind the scenes--the thought and preparation, vision and revision--whose currency fed that magnificent lightning bolt in history."
--Patricia J. Williams
"Fifty years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, that refrain has resonated across time and geography, continuing to inspire movements for freedom and equality and giving King's speech memorable status. Younge, journalist and columnist for the "Guardian" and the "Nation," considers King's speech in the context of its significance in the U.S. and abroad. Exploring the factors that determine how speeches are remembered and whether they are remembered at all, Younge details the context of the August 1963 speech, in the tumultuous year that started with Alabama governor George Wallace declaring eternal segregation in the South and ended with President Kennedy's assassination. He details the long, sleepless night of preparation, the dramatic moment when King turned over his prepared speech and delivered remarks from his heart, using the phrase many had advised against, warning that it was trite and overused. Despite its lukewarm reception at the time, the speech has gone on to resound throughout the world--in Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe--as an appeal for justice and equality 50 years after it was so famously uttered."
--Booklist
"Younge needs only a few words to get to the root of the matter, doing so with a gut punch as the topic requires... [he] offers an insightful and unvarnished interpretation of the speech [and its] aftermath."
--ForeWord Reviews
Praise for "Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disu
"The Speech: The Story behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream". Younge, Gary (Author) Aug 2013. 166 p. Haymarket, hardcover, $19.95. (9781608463220). 808.5. Fifty years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, that refrain has resonated across time and geography, continuing to inspire movements for freedom and equality and giving King's speech memorable status. Younge, journalist and columnist for the Guardian and the Nation, considers King's speech in the context of its significance in the U.S. and abroad. Exploring the factors that determine how speeches are remembered and whether they are remembered at all, Younge details the context of the August 1963 speech, in the tumultuous year that started with Alabama governor George Wallace declaring eternal segregation in the South and ended with President Kennedy's assassination. He details the long, sleepless night of preparation, the dramatic moment when King turned over his prepared speech and delivered remarks from his heart, using the phrase many had advised against, warning that it was trite and overused. Despite its lukewarm reception at the time, the speech has gone on to resound throughout the world--in Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe--as an appeal for justice and equality 50 years after it was so famously uttered.
-- Vanessa Bush, "Booklist"
PRAISE FOR GARY YOUNGE
"British, black and brilliant, Gary Younge shows us the America our own journalists mostly ignore."
--Katha Pollitt
"A critical writer at a critical time."
--Andrea Levy
"One of the tiny handful of contemporary journalists left who are consistently worth reading. A voice for our times."
--Stuart Hall
PRAISE FOR GARY YOUNGE
"British, black and brilliant, Gary Younge shows us the America our own journalists mostly ignore."
--Katha Pollitt
"A critical writer at a critical time."
--Andrea Levy
"One of the tiny handful of contemporary journalists left who are consistently worth reading. A voice for our times."
--Stuart Hall
