
King: a Life
Farrar Straus & Giroux · Print & ebook · January 7, 2025
A Nonfiction pick for readers exploring King: a Life.
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- Who it’s for
- A brisk, nuanced portrait brings King’s convictions, vulnerabilities, and continuing impact into sharper focus.
- Themes
- Racial and economic justice, Civil-rights leadership, Public legacy and personal complexity
- Pacing
- Fast
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For younger readers: We Dream a World: Carrying the Light From My Grandparents Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King
For older readers: Kings and Pawns, The Trouble of Color
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Hailed as “the most compelling account of [Martin Luther] King’s life in a generation” by the Washington Post, the Pulitzer Prize–winning bestseller is now adapted for young adults in this new standard biography of the most famous civil rights activist in American History. Often regarded as more of a myth and legend than man, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was many things throughout his storied life: student, activist, preacher, dreamer, father, husband.
Continue reading
From his Atlanta childhood centered in the historically Black neighborhood of Sweet Auburn to his precipitous rise as a civil rights leader on the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, Dr. King would go on to become one of the most recognizable, influential, and controversial persons of the twentieth century. In this fast-paced and immersive adaptation of Jonathan Eig’s groundbreaking New York Times bestseller readers will meet a Dr. King like no other: a committed radical whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime, a minister wrestling with his human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government. The inspiring young adult edition of King: A Life highlights the author’s never-before-seen research—including recently declassified FBI documents—while reaffirming and recontextualizing the lasting effects and implications of MLK’s work for the present day. Adapted by National Book Award–nominated authors Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long, this biography for a new generation is a nuanced, unprecedented portrayal of a man who truly shook the world. Accolades and Praise for King: A Life: Pulitzer Prize Winner A New York Times, Washington Post, and Indie Bestseller A National Book Award Nominee One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist A “Best Book of the Year” from New York Times ● Washington Post ● TIME Magazine ● The New Yorker ● Publishers Weekly ● The Chicago Tribune ● Smithsonian Magazine ● Christian Science Monitor ● Air Mail “Supple, penetrating, heartstring-pulling and compulsively readable . . . Eig’s book is worthy of its subject.” —New York Times “No book could be more timely than Jonathan Eig’s sweeping and majestic new King.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
Beyond the Legend
A brisk, nuanced portrait brings King’s convictions, vulnerabilities, and continuing impact into sharper focus.
Come here for
- A civil rights biography that treats its subject as both leader and human being
- The lasting stakes of racial and economic justice
Expect
- An immersive young adult adaptation of a sweeping life story
- A present-day lens on King’s work and legacy
Where it sits
| Activist Biographies | 83% |
|---|---|
| Civil & Human Rights for Teens | 61% |
| African American U.S. History for Teens | 31% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Activist Biographies
- 20th Century America for Teens
- Civil & Human Rights for Teens
- Authors
- Jonathan Eig
- Publisher
- Farrar Straus & Giroux
- Published
- January 7, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Racial and economic justice · Civil-rights leadership · Public legacy and personal complexity
- Reading lane
- Activist Biographies