Customer Reviews

King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop

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The story of Martin Luther King's life in and of itself is moving. Sitkoff interprets King's endeavors, trials and successes, wonderfully in the book King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop.

Sitkoff does an excellent job mapping out King's life, exposing King as a radical Liberal, opponent to presidents, peace advocate, and strong opponent of the Vietnam War.

The autobiography also exposes America's flawed society which rejects change and "radicalism." In particular, America rejecting King's opposition to the War in Vietnam. King opposed Vietnam, and the consensus of historians in 2009 view the war as a major mistake and a foreign policy failure. Sitkoff points out King saw this in the 1960s, and everyone rejected his ideas and wrote him off as a lunatic. King's story has stood the test of time, and he has gone down in history as one of the greatest peace and equal rights advocates in America's history.

Sitkoff created a masterpiece, exposing King's flaws and his strengths, making the average American able to relate to such an important historical figure. Sitkoff doesn't white wash King as a moral leader, nor a religious figure whatsoever. Sitkoff points out the flaws that King possessed, but also King's successes and strengths leaving you to be the judge how important King was to America.

I thought I knew a lot about Martin Luther King Jr. Well, I was wrong. I knew very little compared to how much I learned by reading this book.

This is a great man. My admiration for him has grown tremendously by reading this wonderful book! As he himself admitted, he had flaws (and was a sinner, to use his words) just like everyone else. But, if this book is to be believed (and I think it is), he was a man who, more than anything else, followed his conscience.

He was deeply affected by racism, as everyone knows. But he was equally appalled at the poverty he witnessed in the richest country on earth. And he lashed out against the Vietnam War when it was still quite unpopular to do so. Despite many threats to his life (including from the FBI), he never backed down from doing what he felt he needed to do, no matter what the personal risks. And he had an uncanny ability to inspire thousands and tens of thousands of others (both black and white, but by far mostly black) to stand up to police brutality, possible loss of their jobs, and myriad other types of harrassment and danger to fight (non-violently, of course) for their rights.

I learned a lot about a very great man by reading this book. I highly recommend it to everyone, but especially to people living in the United States. It says a lot about this country, both then and now. I just read in the Washington Post that 40 percent of African American children in the U.S. are born into poverty (compared to 8 percent of white children!), and one out of every three African American boys born in the past ten years in this country will spend time in jail or prison before they die. What appalling facts. And without a doubt, these statistics are intimately linked to one another. Martin Luther King Jr. would have his work cut out for him if he were alive today. And I have no doubt whatsoever that he would rise to the occasion and do everything humanly possible to correct these horrendous injustices.

An excellent biography of one of the most honorable, truthful and selfless men to grace recent history. this book is very well written, easy to follow, and very much keeps your attention. There was a lot more to Martin King jr. than most are aware of. I strongly recommend this book, you will have a new appreciation for Martin Luther King day.

A powerful, very readable, biography of a great man who, in spite of his personal failings, should be a great example to us all. Sitkoff's story takes us from MLK's studies to his (and the black peoples of Montgomery, Alabama) phenomenal but arduous success in changing bus segregation to the less visible achievements of later years.

Not only did King have to struggle for black peoples' rights, he had to struggle to keep the fight non-violent. It was very tough, he didn't always succeed and even he realized that militancy sometimes was more effective than non-violent protest.

It is incredible for us in the the 21st century to imagine the depths of racism, discrimination and segregation that existed in the world's most famous democracy only 50 years ago. This year , on Martin Luther King Day, a black president was inaugurated in the USA. Even though much implicit racism still exists , the advances have been stupendous. MLK would feel that his dream had largely been fulfilled.