What else can be said about this stirring, poignant, provocative letter, written in the margins of a newspaper at the height of America's most successful mass movement for equality? Reading it aloud to my children this past MLK Day, I was struck by how many lines have become immortalized: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.""Justice too long delayed is justice denied.""Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."The section in whi...

This book has two parts: one is the one named on the cover, the other one is "The Three Dimensions Of A Complete Life". The first focuses on defending direct, non-violent resistance of racism, written on the margins of a newspaper in 1963; the other is a sermon delivered in Chicago, April 1967, a recording that is cut short by some interruption, but that point is well towards the end, so not much was left to say in it anyway.On the first part: where MLK talks of underlying reasons for demonstrat...

Youtube video review hereOn my way to work when I lived in Canada there was a man who stood in my train station every weekday around 5PM chanting that people need to read more black history. And at the time, I had read a bit of Malcolm X and James Baldwin, and was curious and never had the guts or decency to ask what other books he wanted to be heard. The best I can do now is just imagine what he would've said, and I'd like to think that this, or something else by Martin Luther King (MLK) would

So inspiring!

Here I am, well over fifty years after his time, and I felt goosebumps just by reading MLK's words. Even after so much hate thrown upon him, he showed only love. Fifty years after he's gone, his legacy shone on. Great man.I'm overjoyed I chose this book to start the year 2019.Complete review: https://surgabukuku.wordpress.com/201...

an expertly crafted rebuttal.

Letter From Birmingham Jail: The easiest five-star rating of my life. No review I write could do this work justice. Read this over and over again. 5 stars.The Dimensions of a Complete Life: Whilst an interesting insight into MLK's belief system, this essay didn't connect with me and I likely won't read it again. 3 stars.

The fact that a man such as Martin Luther King spent time in prison demonstrates the fundamental wrongness that permeates humanity. Laws are there to protect people, though which people are they protecting? MLK understood that the laws of society are not necessarily true laws, or what he saw as god’s laws, and he knew that they needed to be fought and changed for the betterment of mankind. His rhetoric is honest, compassionate and full of purpose. King’s word were powerful and heroic. Despite th...

That was phenomenal. King wrote this letter on the margins of a newspaper, as a response to a statement written by eight white Alabama clergymen speaking against his methods. Strange that it is almost just as relevant today as it must have been back in 1963.Favourite parts:"Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.""You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a s...

Such an important book and an absolute must-read!

Inspiring.

The Letter from Birmingham Jail was a text I’d studied many a time in class and referred to. But I’d never read it in completion and I’m glad I did. Basically, it shows me that MLK has mastered the art of responding to criticism. His points are thought out, precise and well developed. I couldn’t, and didn’t, disagree with a single word written. But it’s in the second part of this little classic that I was blown away.The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life is one of the few essays I would tell EV...

[4+] The first work in this small book, Letter from Birmingham Jail, is a searing indictment of racism and inaction. So many familiar quotes have been pulled from this letter. But the experience of reading the entire essay - Wow! Very powerful and inspirational. I can't recommend it enough. I listened to Dion Graham's excellent reading on Hoopla.The second essay, Three Dimensions of a Complete Life is MLK on the pulpit. Everything he says can be used as a guide for a good life - but for me it is...

The first half of this is a compelling piece of writing of a man looking for equality and the right way to achieve those goals.Very powerful writing.The backup feature, "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life" is dull and pulled only a small amount of emotional involevment. A stark contrast to the title piece.

I received the wonderful boxed collection of the new Penguin Moderns series for my birthday, and have decided to read and review them in order. The first book in the collection, and therefore my first review, is black rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter From Birmingham Jail. The blurb states that this 'landmark missive from one of the greatest activists in history calls for direct, non-violent resistance in the fight against racism, and reflects on the healing power of love.' Despite...

One of the best pieces of literature written in American history that represents the civil rights movement. It's amazing how much restraint, hope and resolve these people had. A must read for everyone.Rest in peace, Martin Luther King.

"There are those who become so involved in looking at the man-made lights of the city that they unconsciously forget to rise up and look at that great cosmic light and think about it - that gets up in the eastern horizon every morning and moves across the sky with a kind of symphony of motion and paints it technicolor across the blue - a light that man can never make."Martin Luther King Jr. truly has a way with words. At times, the second essay in this little collection felt a bit preachy in reg...

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. A very important reflection about segregation, racial issues and justice that is still very relevant to this day. Martin Luther King Jr. does an amazing job disarming the claims made by ignorant prejudicial men against the civil rights movement.As an university student I have had many classes on Law (even attended a Theories of Justice course

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.[...] For years now I have heard the word "Wait!"[...] This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." Letter from Birmingham Jail is a powerful defence of nonviolent resistance.I would highly recommend Leynes' review of a joint edition of Letter from Birming

So I bought the Penguin Modern Collection last year excited to read a small sample of different writers and thus discover some amazing talent that I might have otherwise overlooked and then I promptly failed to read a single book in the collection.Last night I made a spur-of-the-moment resolution to read one a day for the next fifty days.This morning I pulled out the first book (why not go in order I told myself) and found this one. To be quite honest, this is not a book I was looking forward to...