Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing but some gems
Review: This book was a bad concept from the start. The presumption of Carson, or the King Estate, or whomever, to create a book cut & paste style is a little distasteful. However, within these pages there are a few precious pieces, due in every way to King himself, not to this book or its creators. Perhaps it may serve as a good introduction to King for those who haven't had much exposure to him. Or better yet, go buy a book he really DID write.
Rating: 
Summary: how can we change the world?
Review: This is at one level an uplifting autobiography of an extraordinary man but at another level it is a guide to us a people living in a cynical (we call it "realistic") age in which we are bombarded by so many causes; all of them claiming to worthwhile, all of them claiming that they will uplift human dignity and freedom. How can we choose amongst these causes? How can we tell which cause is truly just and, having decided, how do we champion it effectively?In his autobiography, Martin Luther King helps us do so. He explains that "constructive ends can never give absolute moral justification to destructive means, because in the final analysis the end is preexistent in the means" (20). Thus, if those whose cause we would champion are murdering babies to achieve justice, the end they and we will achieve will be child murderers whether we want it or not. But if those whose cause we would champion march peacefully to save a life, write countless letters on behalf of a starving child, collect money so that a woman who has been cast out by her society and is facing death might have a good legal defense, then we can be assured that the end we will achieve with our peaceful means will be a saved and happy life. Not least of all our own. And how should we effectively champion our truly just cause; a cause we know is just because the means its proponents use to achieve their ends are right and noble? We should concentrate on one issue at a time, highlighting that one issue by non-violent means. And we must use nonviolence for today we do not face a choice between violence and non-violence but between "nonviolence and nonexistence" (360). So let us choose, in our cause and in our methods existence over the nihilism of all too many movements that claim to be revolutionary and yet which "reject the one thing that keep the fire of revolutions burning: the ever-present flame of hope" (329). Let us choose those causes that would bring our fellow men and women life and that would bring us all hope. Let us follow in the footsteps of Dr Martin Luther King and, like him, not follow false causes that (like the Black Power Movement he gives as an example) promise much but deliver only death and despair.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: THis is definitely the best biography on Dr. King in bookstores. Covers his life very well and without much opinion, Clayborne Carson gives you a very clear picture of his life. Having transcripts of telegraphs, letters, and speeches added a lot to this book. If you are looking for a way to find out about Dr. King, this is the book to read.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I ever read
Review: This is the best book I have ever read. Since it was written by Martin himself I felt like he was still alive and speaking to me while I read it. I could not put it down and time flew everytime I opened it. King explains his thoughts, feelings, and actions and you get to see what an inspiration he is. His ideas are genius and timeless. I cannot say enough about what this book meant to me. I suggest the hardcover. It costs more, but it is beautiful with shiny silver and gold on the jacket. If you admire King or his views in any way then this is the book for you. If you only read one book - this is the one.
Rating: 
Summary: Rich portrait
Review: Too many of us associate MLK only with the March on Washington and the "I have a dream" speech, but his life was truly epic -- a complex leader that undertook many missions, all of which were accompanied by personal struggles of faith, family and community. This book steps the reader through his life using his words and speeches as the primary guide. My appreciation for MLK and the civil rights struggle of the 60s was enriched by this reading.
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