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A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Average Rating:  out of 14 Reviews
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Price: $23.95
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Sale: $12.50
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Manufacturer: HarperOne
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780060646912
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Paperback
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Author: Martin Luther King
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Publisher: HarperOne
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Dewey Decimal Number: 323.1196073
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Publication Date: 1990-12-07
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Reading Level: 736
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Description: "We've got some difficult days ahead," civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., told a crowd gathered at Memphis's Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968. "But it really doesn't matter to me now because I've been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land." These prohetic words, uttered the day before his assassination, challenged those he left behind to see that his "promised land" of racial equality became a reality; a reality to which King devoted the last twelve years of his life. These words and other are commemorated here in the only major one-volume collection of this seminal twentieth-century American prophet's writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections. A Testament of Hope contains Martin Luther King, Jr.'s essential thoughts on nonviolence, social policy, integration, black nationalism, the ethics of love and hope, and more.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Required Reading For All |
Date: 2008-06-02 |
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Details: I was totally humbled by this book. If it could be made manitory reading for all.....they should pass a law. You will not be the same after reading this book. |
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Review Summary: "There are just laws and there are unjust laws..." * |
Date: 2008-04-05 |
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Details: Yesterday, the 40th anniversary of MLK's assassination, I spent the better part of the day thumbing through A Testment of Hope. The book is an old friend of mine. I've read and reread it for nearly twenty years now, both privately and with students in at least a dozen classes.
What I like so much about editor James Washington's collection is its comprehensiveness. In a single volume, one finds MLK's thoughts on nonviolence, civil rights and integration, the Vietnam War and poverty, Christianity and social responsibility, and justice and morality. His ideas are conveyed here through essays, sermons, interviews, and lengthy, meaty excerpts from his five books. Everything that one could want is here, including what I personally take to be his very best work: "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (1963), "Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience" (1961), "A Christmas Sermon on Peace" (1967), "A Time to Break Silence" (1967), the "I Have a Dream" speech (1961), and Stride Toward Freedom's masterful discussion of the tactics and principles of nonviolence (1958).
Today, four decades after his death, the country is still struggling to grow into MLK's vision of reconciliation and nonviolence. One can only imagine how sad he would be at the post-9/11 turn toward militarism the nation has taken, the current wave of sentiment against Latino immigrants, the constant economic disparity between white households and African American ones, or the upswing in hate crimes against Muslims. In re-reading A Testament of Hope, I was reminded yet again of how very much we need a present-day prophet of King's caliber, vision, and courage, and of how very grateful I am that we once had King himself.
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* "And I submit that the individual who disobeys the law, whose conscience tells him it is unjust and who is willing to accept the penalty by staying in jail until that law is altered, is expressing at the moment the very highest respect for law." From "Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience," p. 49. |
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Review Summary: A Legacy of Hope - Mighty and Powerful and Beautifully Crafted |
Date: 2007-09-21 |
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Details: As a Hispanic-American increasingly involved in speaking out about social issues and looking for inspiration, I stumbed upon this incredible book.
I have since learned to love the writings and speeches of Doctor Martin Luther King. They are mighty and powerful and beautifully crafted. Biblical in their content and style, they are tremendously moving. They simplify the complicated and elevate the important!
His words ring out as loud and clear today as they did some forty years ago. For example, in one of his last and most radical speeches, "Where Do We Go From Here?" Doctor King exhorted:
"Let us go out with a 'divine dissatisfaction!
Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of Creeds and an anemia of Deeds!
Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and dispair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice!
Let us be dissatisfied until those that life on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security!
Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history and every family is living in a decent sanitary home!"
This book is recommended for anyone looking for wisdom and inspiration and wishing to learn more about Doctor Martin Luther King and America's civil rights movement.
Buy it! Read it! And get involved in the battle for social justice for all Americans. |
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Review Summary: A thorough and moving chronicle of a heroic man and Christian |
Date: 2007-07-29 |
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Details: A suggested read for anyone (emphasis). Through the essays, abridged novels, and interviews, one can gather a personal and philosophical history of MLK, a summary of the civil rights movement, and a greater understanding of life and religion (which are inextricably attached really). I particularly appreciated the notion that civil rights was really about human rights on a global scale. He oft points out that poor whites, Latinos, and Asians, faced the same issues in the U. S. and across the globe.
A central theme is the principles of nonviolent resistance, which are essentially (if properly understood) unbiased and unwavering compassion and respect for (all) human life. I believe this is the single greatest area of failure in our current society. The book has entrenched that position further, with a deepened understanding of what it means, where the problems have exhibited themselves, and how we might improve upon the situation.
I must say as a native Alabamian and habitant of Birmingham for almost 10 years, the book has particular relevance to me. However, the history chronicled within is the history of man and is therefore applicable to everyone. |
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Review Summary: The great American voice for Freedom "I know one day we as a people will reach the Promised Land" |
Date: 2006-11-22 |
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Details: Martin Luther King Jr. the great American Civil Rights leader was a voice not only for black people in the United States, but for Mankind as a whole. He dreamed but he did not dream for black people alone but for every single American, and every single human being. Essentially his message was one of hope.
He was perhaps the most powerful speaker the United States had in the twentieth century. His 'I have a dream' speech on the Mall in Washington at the height of the Civil Rights movements was a call for and affirmation of human dignity and freedom.
He spoke in the language and rhythms of the Bible.
In his Nobel Prize Speech he articulated his faith in nonviolence as a means for human liberation. While it might be possible to question the validity of the non- violent option when confronting the most ruthless forms of totalitarian Evil it nonetheless is tribute to the spirit of King's deep Christian faith that he so passionately preached the 'non- violent doctrine'.
This book is a testimony to one of the truly great Americans of the twentieth - century. A man who by his example , by his deeds, ( And his words too are great deeds) gave hope and freedom to so many.
This work could not be recommended more highly. |
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