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Rating: 
Summary: Well researched and written
Review: Keith D. Miller does a good job examining the sources of Martin Luther King Jr. and explaining their significance. King was very successfull as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement in America because he effectively appealed to many white moderates. By quoting the founding fathers he was able to appeal to the broader American tradition. By borrowing and blending from black and white tradtions of speech and language, King was all the more effective at uniting people. There is obviously a considerable amount of informaton on Ghandi within Miller's publication. I think much more attention should have been focused on King's borrowing from Aquinas and natural law, which is so clearly evident in King's "Letter From A Birmingham Jail." I found it also interesting that King borrowed sources from contemporary white preachers as well as historical figures. Of all the criticisms you could throw at King, he was still very very intelligent.
Rating: 
Summary: A genius--like Homer and Shakespeare, and a great man
Review: This superb book deserves to be widely read. It is well known that King plagiarised much of his academic work and many of the passages from his sermons and speeches, but Miller compelling explains this practice as the hallmark of the oral culture of African American religion that produced its finest example in King himself. Although Miller doesn't cite classical literature, King's method of creating his own unique works from the building blocks of others is a central and completely accepted insight into scholarship on Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, and it is well known that Shakespeare closely followed the plots of third rate plays to produce his own masterpieces.Miller also shows how the courageous resistance of African Americans against centuries of slavery produced a profound gospel of deliverance that was a concentrated version of Judeo-Christian doctrines, pared to its essentials and vivid enough to sustain people through seemingly hopeless injustice and oppression, indeed, with the power to motivate people to lay down their lives, if necessary. It was this doctrine of deliverance that King delivered to America and the world, electrifying the consciences and imaginations of white Americans, and providing leadership of the highest quality to the many brave African Americans who were determined to end the injustice of racism in America. This is a fine and inspiring book about a great American, Dr. M. L. King, Jr.
Rating:
Summary: A genius--like Homer and Shakespeare, and a great man
Review: This superb book deserves to be widely read. It is well known that King plagiarised much of his academic work and many of the passages from his sermons and speeches, but Miller compelling explains this practice as the hallmark of the oral culture of African American religion that produced its finest example in King himself. Although Miller doesn't cite classical literature, King's method of creating his own unique works from the building blocks of others is a central and completely accepted insight into scholarship on Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, and it is well known that Shakespeare closely followed the plots of third rate plays to produce his own masterpieces. Miller also shows how the courageous resistance of African Americans against centuries of slavery produced a profound gospel of deliverance that was a concentrated version of Judeo-Christian doctrines, pared to its essentials and vivid enough to sustain people through seemingly hopeless injustice and oppression, indeed, with the power to motivate people to lay down their lives, if necessary. It was this doctrine of deliverance that King delivered to America and the world, electrifying the consciences and imaginations of white Americans, and providing leadership of the highest quality to the many brave African Americans who were determined to end the injustice of racism in America. This is a fine and inspiring book about a great American, Dr. M. L. King, Jr.
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