Wow. How sad is it that I live in Alabama, and I never knew that in 1963, Birmingham was considered to be the most segregated city in America? Martin Luther King, Jr's Why We Can't Wait is an excellent treatise on the race issues still facing our country 50 years ago - 100 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. This book is about non-violent revolution. About some of the turning points in American history 50 years ago, especially in Birmingham. Please read this. We, especially those of...

I think that every American should read this book. MLK, Jr. was an amazing man who was in love with God and who had a heart for people. He had an amazing understanding of what Jesus Christ would do and, I believe, was a great example of what a Christian should be. As I re-read "Letters From a Birmingham Jail", I was reminded how loving and forgiving of a man he was, even to the people who despised him the most. He had a vision of a world where everyone was treated equally, no matter what the col...

This is one of the - if not the - best of King's books, as it details the crucial Birmingham campaign and features at its heart the incredible Letter from Birmingham Jail. Although always positive in tone, it deals with the realities of a campaign that is now viewed as pivotal to the success of the American Civil Rights Movement but that was anything but assured in its own time. That King acknowledges this reality while placing it in a constructive context all the while advancing his positive, f...

When reading Why We Can't Wait, one gets a sense of what Martin Luther King Jr. faced at a crucial point in his civil-rights activism; and Dr. King emerges from the pages of this book not as a distant icon, but as a great, and humanly great, individual. He is also a brilliant writer, and one of the greatest rhetoricians in all of American history, as Why We Can't Wait amply demonstrates.The central subject of Why We Can't Wait is the civil-rights campaign that Dr. King led in Birmingham, Alabama...

Martin Luther King's Why We Can't WaitA new anthology on Martin Luther King's political philosophy, "To Shape a New World" (2018) edited by Harvard University professors Tommie Shelby and Brandon Terry has inspired me to read or reread the five books that King published during his life. Published in 1964, King's third book, "Why We Can't Wait" focuses on the 1963 Civil Rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. King and others had described Birmingham as the most segregated city in America. The nat...

This book includes Dr. King's stirring "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." I can't really write a review, so I'll just say I learned a lot of things here on Juneteeth. I was born and raised in segregationist Virginia, so Dr. King's writings have a particular relevance to me and help me to understand better about hate and racism.

I grew up in the 60s, so this was a trip to the past. I remember seeing the fire hoses, the dogs biting on children, the marches, the billy clubs, and the faces filled with hate. I remember when 4 little girls were killed in a church bombing. I remember the March on Washington and the I Have a Dream speech. I also remember when much of white America thought Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. should be put in jail and kept there. When my parents said, people shouldn't interfere with what is traditi...

I read this book when I was about sixteen. It is a beautiful and important book. Dr. King describes how to use nonviolent protest to challenge injustice and change society for the better. The stories about the protests are inspiring. But the only part I really related to was a story about an execution.It seems there was this black teenager who was found guilty of some crime and sentenced to death. As an experiment the prison officials put a microphone in the gas chamber so they could actually he...

Martin Luther King Jr. through his words and actions was a true leader, and this book cements this fact because of all the struggle & the pain, and the suffering that he experienced and all the work that he had done for the civil-rights movement, most especially the 1963 Revolution.King doesn't just talk about racism as a simple matter here in this book; he unlocks it and exposes the multi-threaded & layers of dread and destruction that the African-American went through for centuries. King's boo...

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is by far the best part of the book.

I read this book in high school at a time when I was just beginning to truly understand the Civil Rights movement. This book changed my life. I don't care if that sounds cliche or whatever, but there is no way a person can read a book like Why We Can't Wait, and experience Dr. Martin Luther King's more than deeply profound rhetoric of freedom and equality and then turn around and aim for mediocrity. I have a lot more to say but I shall save my thoughts and pour them into action.

I celebrated MLK Day by reading Dr. King’s book, and I am so happy I did. This book is phenomenal!One of the most poignant reads I have read that gives light to some of the most pivotal moments during the Civil Rights Movement. There is so much passion and weight found in Dr. King’s words that it is almost impossible for you to not be inspired while reading.

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." - Martin Luther King Jr. A beautiful book with an everlasting message of love and non-violence; a classic exploration of the events and forces behind the Civil Right movement by someone that was there,one of the greatest human soul to walk on our planet,an enduring testament to the wise and courageous vision of Martin Luther King Jr. A must read for everyone!!!

This was a terric book that deserves 5-stars but I only rated it 4-stars because it became too detailed and covered minutia that didn't interest me . It included Dr. King's full ' Letter from a Birmingham jail ' , which is rare and was enlightening . I was particularly interested in the four pillars on which his dogged , non-violent movement was based : 1 . Collection of facts to identify injustice ; 2. Negotiation ; 3 . SELF-PURIFICATON , and 4. Direct Action .I was simply astounded at the leng...

"Man was born into barbarism when killing his fellow man was a normal condition of existence. He became endowed with a conscience. And he has now reached the day when violence toward another human being must become as abhorrent as eating another's flesh." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.The concluding words from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.’s were written in his book entitled "Why We Can't Wait." The words illustrate the everlasting struggle of humanity to regain its humanity from the inherited cor...

Powerful.I’m glad to read Dr. King’s thoughts in his own words. I’ve settled too long for secondary sources.This book tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement, especially the events of the year 1963. It centers on the events in Birmingham and includes King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” King explains what their aims were, what philosophy guided them, what tactics of direct action through nonviolence they employed, and what the results were. He does a masterful job of carrying the reader

Living history. A look into the mind of Martin Luther King Jr. Turns out the man was every bit as brilliant as his eloquent speeches and history would suggest. Strange feeling about reading this in this day and age; so little has changed. Many of the things he discussed in the abstract still prevail today. The specifics are different, the discrimination more creative (though still primarily racial in nature but also economic, sexual orientation, religious etc) but the attitudes, the leadership (...

it’s a moving experience to read history from the viewpoint of the present. to feel the struggle in their choices and actions, to celebrate their victories, to feel the hope for the future. or maybe it was just the way of words Martin Luther King, Jr. had. or maybe it’s the heart of christianity in his cause. the love of Christ. the calling of the church, of the people, to fight for what’s just as God describes justice. but to fight, with peace. with sacrifice. with strength of character. he end...

For the last few years, I have normally felt that I’ve figured out most of what needs to be figured out concerning people. Everywhere I go, everyone I meet, the same basic petty, High School nonsense resurfaces. People say one thing and do another; people smile in your company, and chatter behind your back. I don’t mean to sound bitter—it’s fun. I simply wish to say that daily life is singularly devoid of heroism and nobility. It’s just imperfect people doing the best they can to get through the...

As a brown person living in the U.S., it is truly moving to see how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go when it comes to discrimination and racial injustice.