In the second volume of his three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began withParting the Waters,winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Taylor Branch portrays the Civil Rights Movement at its zenith, recounting the climactic struggles as they commanded the national stage.

For nearly forty years, the conviction of James Earl Ray forthe assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. has been thesubject of intense inquiry and debate by historians andresearchers. Was Ray, a small-town petty thief, really thecriminal mastermind and lone gunman prosecutors said he was?Or was he a pawn in a broader conspiracy that involved theU.S. government? His case never went to trial, and many,including the King family, concluded that there had been aconspiracy. A government investigation in 2000 concludedthat there was no evidence to suggest it. In Truth at Last,Ray's eldest brother, John Larry Ray, and MLK historianLyndon Barsten offer incontrovertible evidence that JamesEarl Ray could not have acted alone. Barsten draws on scoresof personal interviews and more than 4,000 Freedom ofInformation Act requests, including Ray's Army personnelfile. John Larry Ray adds family background and never-before-seen photos. Together, they offer a startling new look atRay's life, his encounters with the Feds and the Mob, andthe crime that shook the world.

McCarty (Georgia Humanities Council) has written a variety of articles for the New Georgia Encyclopedia) and serves as state coordinator for the National History Day in Georgia. She offers high school students and general readers an accessible biography of the complete life of the wife and widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--Coretta Scott King--recognized in her home state of Alabama as the "First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement." In addition to the biography, the text contains a timeline of events in King's life and a list of selected resources for further research/reading. Illustrated with 14 b #38;w photographs. Annotation #169;2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

In this interesting and important introduction to the life and thought of Martin Luther King Jr., theologian Rufus Burrow explores King's life as well as his thinking and activism. Burrow addresses those who see King as only a social activist by showing how his studies, particularly his theological studies, influenced, shaped, and transformed the activist path he pursued during his public life. Themes later developed by liberation theology were anticipated by King a decade before. These ideas were honed and shaped by his social activism. This book, with dozens of illustrations by artist Ron Hill, is written for a broad audience. It explores King's legacy, the continuing importance of his work, and his quest for "the beloved community," and it will serve as an excellent introduction to King's life and thinking.

""I have a dream" - no words are more widely recognized, or more often repeated, than those called out from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial by Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1963. King's speech, elegantly structured and commanding in tone, has become shorthand not only for his own life but for the entire civil rights movement. In this new exploration of the "I have a dream" speech, Eric J. Sundquist places it in the history of American debates about racial justice - debates as old as the nation itself - and demonstrates how the speech, an exultant blend of grand poetry and powerful elocution, perfectly expressed the story of African American freedom." "This book is the first to set King's speech within the cultural and rhetorical traditions on which the civil rights leader drew in crafting his oratory, as well as its essential historical contexts, from the early days of the republic through present-day Supreme Court rulings. At a time when the meaning of the speech has been obscured by its appropriation for every conceivable cause, Sundquist clarifies the transformative power of King's "Second Emancipation Proclamation" and its continuing relevance for contemporary arguments about equality."--BOOK JACKET.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-282) and index.

This intimate portrait of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his early family life by his only sister illustrates how he was empowered to perform miraculous deeds and change the course of American history. 25 bw photographs throughout.

"In Becoming King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making of a National Leader, Troy Jackson chronicles King's emergence and effectiveness as a civil rights leader by examining his relationship with the people of Montgomery, Alabama. Using the sharp lens of Montgomery's struggle for racial equality to investigate King's burgeoning leadership. Drawing on countless interviews and archival sources and comparing King's sermons and religious writings before, during, and after the Montgomery bus boycott, Jackson demonstrates how King's voice and message evolved to reflect the shared struggles, challenges, experiences, and hopes of the people with whom he worked."--BOOK JACKET.