Bearing the Cross - Part II

Rating:
Summary: Marked Black History
Review: Although not completed I already have the idea that it should be required reading for Seniors in High School and/or a Freshman College requirement. After all it is a most significant event of modern day history along with the civil war and both world wars. David Garrow simultaneously celebrates and condemns human nature by revealing the courage and strength of Dr. King and his followers even as his wife and daughter are attacked with fire bombs by the hateful white mobs. A very compelling beginning story of Rosa Parks... the injustices and inhumane treatment she suffered at the hands of a hate filled people...sets the stage for a work that could begin a lesson in tolerance and unity for our next generations. I unfortunately believe we are still condemned to live our hateful existence in America and the world until works like this can get the attention they deserve.

Rating:
Summary: The heavy burden of being a hero
Review: BEARING THE CROSS is a very detailed book on the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., American hero, civil rights activist, preacher and admirer of Ghandi and his nonviolent approach to social change. King came to the forefront of the mid-century civil rights movement when Rosa Parks, a seamstress, refused to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. It wasn't the first time a black woman had been tossed out of her seat in the Black section of the bus when a white customer needed a seat. Along with the removal usually went insults and threats and Ms. Parks just wasn't having it that time. The local activists asked King, a new preacher at Dexter Baptist Church, if he would take on the responsibility. Reluctantly, he agreed to do so and thus began the legend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Over the years, Dr. King has taken on an almost mythical position in the civil rights movement. Those who were present at the time find themselves wondering if the Dr. King they remember is the same man that is now raised in the American consciousness. He is frequently given a saintly aura that leads children reading about him in history books to believe there was never anyone like him before and that there can never be another like him again. David J. Garrow dispels those myths as he lets us in on the life of the man who led this country to reconsider its segregationist behavior. We see Dr. King when he is depressed and feeling unworthy of his position in the movement, when he is being a chauvinist about his wife, those moments when he smokes and drinks too much and Garrow gives credence to the rampant rumors that he had women in his life other than Coretta.

In addition to the very humanness of King, we also get to witness the foibles of the United States as it dealt with its Black citizens. We get to know the actions of three presidents of the United States, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson, as they vacillated about the civil rights movement. None of them wanted to upset the Southern voting population so they tended to send mixed messages: on one hand they knew that Blacks were being treated unfairly but to offer help through legislation, federal troop protection for besieged nonviolent marchers or verbal support for the movement was beyond where they wanted to go. The levels to which the FBI stooped to discredit King are by themselves, phenomenal. Each of the presidents was definitely aware that King's rights as a citizen of this country were being abused as his home, his phones, his motels, hotels and friends were wiretapped. The agency also used the illegally acquired information to terrorize and blackmail Dr. King. Not one of them objected to this horrendous invasion of privacy.

BEARING THE CROSS is a definite must read for every caring citizen of the United States who has a desire to understand and appreciate the civil rights movement, the life and times of Dr. King and the role that the country has played in keeping some of its citizens in bondage. I would also recommend it as a reference book for the civil rights movement.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of the RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: A Thorough History
Review: I knew very little about MLK and the civil rights movement before reading this book. It was a very detailed account of MLK's involvement in civil rights and his personal life. From the late 50's to his death the author tells you practically everything about his life. Though it would be easy for an author to be bias toward or against King, I felt that Garrow did a good job of just telling the story and leaving conclusions to the reader.

Rating:
Summary: The most comprehensive biography on King you'll find
Review: If the definitive biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., has been written, then surely David J. Garrow must be the author. His central thesis - though at times hard to track through the pages of exhaustive detail - is that King gradually came to see the symbol of the cross as a defining force in his life. Garrow spent years researching and writing this volume, a fact evidenced by his bibliography of well over 1,200 sources. It should be noted that the book was first published in 1986. While not outdated, readers may now choose to study it in conjunction with King's recently released "autobiography" (edited by Clayborne Carson) and with Michael Eric Dyson's new work.

Rating:
Summary: Blah blah blah
Review: Ok, Garrow gets five stars for a staggering amount of research. Hands down, this mam did his homework. But other than that, I cannot understand why he would get a Pulitzer for it.

There is no real over-arching narrative here. He tries to let the facts speak for themselves, but doesn't really line them up. One moment we are discussing King's wife, and then we are talking about the book he is writing, as if he was always writing it. Then we change topics one paragraph later. What book was King writing? Oh, we find that out forty pages later.

At every mention of King's Ghostwriters, I couldn't help but wonder why Garrow didn't get one for himself.

Rating:
Summary: Marked Black History
Review: This is the most comprehensive MLK book you can get and it helped me through the 20th century as I wrote a short-short on Black history entitled "Who is We?" available @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/singinsagg. The book spans black history and the agonizing period of slavery from 1441, all across the Americas. It brings you to the period of segregation and tell of the arts that blacks are known for and traces the life of MLK, blacks in film, musical emerges such as gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, reggae, and hip-hop (rap).

Rating:
Summary: Very good biography on MLK
Review: This Pulitzer Prize winning biography proves to be superbly reseached and well written (although bit dry for some) account of the great civil right leader. However, the book seem to be geared around his public life and his involvment with the Civil Rights movement of SCLC. Although this part of his life seem to be well documented and covered, the book don't tell us much about King's private life, his relationship with his family, or his sexual indiscretions and his own relationship on the personal level with so many of his fellowers, friends and rivials.

But its a superb coverage of King's Civil Rights involvement and actually tell a sad story of man who was definitely over reaching the limits of his own personal, mental and physical endurance. A good example would be how MLK's venture in the Vietnam War which definitely overextended his reach when so much still needed to be done on the Civil Rights front. This distraction also cost him friends and allies who could have helped him on that issue which should have been the main focus of MLK. I guess he lost focus in the end. I am bit surprised that the book didn't make any commentary on the legacy of MLK or anything like that. The book stopped with his death which almost sound like a blessing for MLK who seem at the end of his life, an unhappy man, totally stress out and overwhelmed by his burdens.

But as biography goes, I thought this book was honest and interesting picture of a man. And thats good in my opinion, MLK was a man with combination of greatness and flaw that the book clearly points out with a great deal of objectivity. I thought it was kind of an ironic statement when the author stated that the only people who really knew MLK were his closest friends and the FBI who wiretapped him.

I should note that this may not be an ideal chocie for first time reader of MLK since there are overwhelming amount of material in this book which may create an information overload for some people.

My paperback book didn't have any photos which I thought to be bit strange. Book like this need photos. But overall, this is the best biography I have read on MLK regarding his public life. Will there ever be one of his private life??

Rating:
Summary: Not for those interested in an introduction to MLK
Review: Though this book won the Pulitzer, I was disappointed. I even special ordered it, but found it plodding and incredibly bogged down with detail. For the MLK scholar, it must be old hat. For the rest of us,,,,simply too much.