King's Dream: The Legacy of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (Icons of America) (Hardcover)

To this day, nobody knows what prompted Martin Luther King Jr. to depart from his prepared remarks during the August 28, 1963, March on Washington and deliver what is probably the most famous impromptu speech in American history. Was it the realization that the 40-year-old preacher from Atlanta hadn't yet connected with his audience? Was it the manifest destiny he felt as a child, that one day he would have me some big words like the preacher of his own church? Or was it the provocation of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who called to King to Tell 'em about the dream, Martin! According to Sundquist (ToWake the Nation), not even the master orator could put a finger on his extemporization. I started out reading the speech, King recalled, then all of a sudden this thing came out of me. The author investigates the origin of King's powerful words and places them in the context of JFK's political maneuverings, the powerful new medium of television news and the complicated strategy behind the simple march. Exhaustively researched, this book delivers an exegesis of the speech and a captivating account of King's motivations and turbulent times. (Jan.)
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"A fascinating new book. . . . [Sundquist] brings his historical and literary brilliance to the study of King, revealing the multiple meanings of the dream and the uses of King''s words."-Edward J. Blum, San Diego Union-Tribune (Edward J. Blum San Diego Union-Tribune )

"A fascinating new book. . . . [Sundquist] brings his historical and literary brilliance to the study of King, revealing the multiple meanings of the dream and the uses of King's words."-Edward J. Blum, San Diego Union-Tribune (Edward J. Blum San Diego Union-Tribune )

"Eloquently, encyclopedically and exhaustively, Sundquist catalogues networks of juxtaposition and conjunction in relation to King''s address. Classical allusions rub up against quotations from movies, videos, comic books, TV shows and the Internet."-George Elliott Clarke, Toronto Globe & Mail (George Elliott Clarke Toronto Globe & Mail )

"Eloquently, encyclopedically and exhaustively, Sundquist catalogues networks of juxtaposition and conjunction in relation to King's address. Classical allusions rub up against quotations from movies, videos, comic books, TV shows and the Internet."-George Elliott Clarke, Toronto Globe & Mail (George Elliott Clarke Toronto Globe & Mail )

"Eric Sundquist brings vividly to life a watershed moment in world history as he examines one of the most important political speeches of all time."-Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage (Charles Johnson 20090118)

"In highlighting the roots and ongoing struggle over the content and use of the [''I Have a Dream''] speech, Eric J. Sundquist has produced one of the best short books we have on the ideas of racial equality from the early days of the American republic up to current Supreme Court decisions."-George Bornstein, Times Literary Supplement (George Bornstein Times Literary Supplement 20090117)

"In highlighting the roots and ongoing struggle over the content and use of the ['I Have a Dream'] speech, Eric J. Sundquist has produced one of the best short books we have on the ideas of racial equality from the early days of the American republic up to current Supreme Court decisions."-George Bornstein, Times Literary Supplement (George Bornstein Times Literary Supplement 20090117)

"King''s Dream . . . is irresistibly topical. . . . Sundquist is very good at showing how King''s metaphors and allusions finesse a perennial tension-between the pragmatic and the apocalyptic-within African American political culture."-Roger Gathman, Austin American-Statesman (Roger Gathman Austin American-Statesman )

"King's Dream . . . is irresistibly topical. . . . Sundquist is very good at showing how King's metaphors and allusions finesse a perennial tension-between the pragmatic and the apocalyptic-within African American political culture."-Roger Gathman, Austin American-Statesman (Roger Gathman Austin American-Statesman )

"Sundquist''s careful, thoughtful study unearths new and fascinating evidence of the rhetorical traditions in King''s speech."-Drew D. Hansen, author of The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech that Inspired a Nation (Drew D. Hansen 20090114)

"Sundquist's careful, thoughtful study unearths new and fascinating evidence of the rhetorical traditions in King's speech."-Drew D. Hansen, author of The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech that Inspired a Nation (Drew D. Hansen 20090114)

"The [''I Have a Dream''] speech and all that surrounds it-background and consequences-are brought magnificently to life in Eric Sundquist''s new book, King''s Dream. . . . In this book he gives us drama and emotion, a powerful sense of history combined with illuminating scholarship."-Anthony Lewis, New York Times Book Review (Editor''s Choice) (Anthony Lewis New York Times Book Review )

"The ['I Have a Dream'] speech and all that surrounds it-background and consequences-are brought magnificently to life in Eric Sundquist's new book, King's Dream. . . . In this book he gives us drama and emotion, a powerful sense of history combined with illuminating scholarship."-Anthony Lewis, New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice) (Anthony Lewis New York Times Book Review )

"Writing in an unusually clear and cogent style, Sundquist analyzes the rhetorical precedents and the starburst of rhetorical, political, musical, and cultural associations related to 'I Have a Dream.'"-Keith Miller, author of Voice of Deliverance (Keith Miller 20090118)