The Speech: the Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream

Publisher Marketing: AudioFile Best Audiobooks Biography and History, 2014The night before the March on Washington in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. asked his aides for advice about the next day's speech. "Don't use the lines about 'I have a dream'," Wyatt Walker told him "It's trite, it's cliche. You've used it too many times already."Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered at least 350 talks in 1963 alone. Countless speeches have been delivered on civil rights and, indeed, many others beside Martin Luther King's were delivered at the March on Washington. So what was it that made that particular speech historical? Why do we remember it? How do we remember it? And what about it have we chosen to forget?Gary Younge examines what made the speech so timely...and so timeless. Few at that time could imagine the world he was evoking but to achieve its aims, all had to believe it was possible. Fifty years on it is clear that in eliminating segregation not racism but formal, codified, explicit discrimination the civil rights movement delivered the last significant moral victory in America for which there is still a consensus. The speech's appeal endures because it remains the most eloquent, poetic, unapologetic, and public articulation of that victory." Review Citations: Audio File Bst Biography/Hist 12/01/2014 pg. 23 (EAN 9781501251429, Compact Disc) Audio File 12/01/2014 pg. 46 (EAN 9781501251429, Compact Disc) - *Starred Review Booklist 08/01/2013 pg. 21 (EAN 9781608463220, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 08/26/2013 (EAN 9781608463220, Hardcover) Foreword 08/08/2013 (EAN 9781608463220, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Younge, Gary Gary Younge is an author, broadcaster, and award-winning columnist for the Guardian, based in Chicago. He also writes a monthly column for The Nation magazine and is the Alfred Knobler Fellow for The Nation Institute. Born in Britain to Barbadian parents, Younge reported all over Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean before being appointed the Guardian s US correspondent in 2003. In 2009 he won Britain s prestigious James Cameron Award for combined moral vision and professional integrity. His first book, No Place Like Home: A Black Briton s Journey through the Deep South, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His third book, Who Are We and Should It Matter in the 21st Century?, was shortlisted for the Bristol Festival of Ideas Book Prize. The Speech is his fourth book.