Martin Luther King Jr., a Biography is written by Roger Bruns who is an independent scholar and prolific author of biographies of Billy Graham (Greenwood, 2004), Jesse Jackson (Greenwood, 2005), and many other major figures. This book has 157 pages and is first published by Greenwood Press in 6th, June in 2006. When I was in high school, I read I Have a Dream for the first time and I was deeply impressed by his literary talent and eloquence as well as moved by his devotion to pursuing racial equality. “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” I’m longing to know more about this national warrior and the significant events happened at that time. That’s the reason why I read this book.
In this biography, the writer Roger Bruns portrays a vivid Martin Luther King to a new generation who are too young to know about the events of the Civil Rights movement. This text gives basic information about the life and work of Dr. King, his activism and rise to the leadership of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and the continuing aftereffects of his work in nonviolence and justice .In a gripping narrative style, the writer introduces the story of the man who challenged the entrenched racism of the South and north through a non-violent movement that changed the course of American History. In chronological order, the writer tells the compelling stories of King from his early family life in an insular community of blacks in Atlanta, to the early days of civil rights movement and King’s leadership role in the major marches, demonstrations, boycotts and sit-ins that took place, mainly in the south. Critical insight is given into the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, as King attempted to negotiate with these presidents for equal rights for blacks. Against the backdrop of beatings, killings, bombings, threats, and imprisoning, King is portrayed as driven to lift up all Americans, even if it meant martyrdom. This biography is an ideal introduction to the foremost leader of the civil rights movement.
It’ll never be easy to write a biography, not alone the biography for a civil rights leader. For my part, this book successfully presents King and the significant events to readers. To portray a figure, he should be put into his social relations since Marx has pointed that “The essence of man is the sum of all social relations.” Only by digging deep into the internal connection between figure and all social relations can the nature of the figure be well portrayed. One purpose of biography is to demonstrate how individuals are shaped by social relations and individuals exert influence on the social relations. In this book, the writer successfully created a character of leader by descriptions of King’s actions and behaviors in civil rights movements. How King associates with and calls on others to conduct a series of activities are clearly described in this book.
Flowers of speech, cumbersome and redundant description together with plot twists are not appropriate for a biography. However, to fully attract readers, vivid language, flowing sentences and logical layout are widely used. In other words, literary grace is of great importance. Metaphor is widely used. For example, when King came to Selma for the first time, the writer describes his being hit as Selma’s “welcome” to him which is also ironic. This kind of speech is smooth enough and well resonates with readers. Apart from this, description is widely used to reproduce the scene. For example, the writer gives a specific description of the protester who was beaten by the county sheriff. The 53-year-old woman was so brave that she threw 3 punches to sheriff. Finally, she was beaten even harder. This description on one hand presents the bravery of the blacks who fight for freedom and on the other hand, it also implies that King still has a long way which is also full of obstacles to go.
To highlight the character, writers often choose the significant and most representative events and omit the less typical ones. Apart from this, detail description cannot be ignored. It is widely recognized that character traits hide in details. “We must be willing to go to jail by the thousands.” “We are not on our knees begging for the ballet, we are demanding the ballot.” All these sentences are said by King to inspire the blacks to be fearless to the whites and to fight for freedom and equality. In addition, the strength and leadership skills of King are shown on the paper by writing in this way.
In terms of contents, this book introduces the basic information about King’s life and work, how he organizes and leads the civil rights movements in the 1960s and the great effects of his works in nonviolence and justice. The writer chooses the most significant and representative events to portray a vivid Martin Luther King for all the readers.
From my point of view, this book is worth doing. After I read this biography, I got an all-around knowledge of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movements led by him. And I was deeply encouraged by his spirit of dedication and determination again. What’s more, this book is suitable for readers like me who are too young to get to know about the civil rights movement. We can really get a lot from this book.
