King: A Life (Young Adult Edition)

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Hailed as "the most compelling account of King’s life in a generation" by The Washington Post, this Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., is now adapted for young adults by two National Book Award Longlisted authors—to be published simultaneously with the paperback edition of the adult book.

From his Georgia childhood in the historically Black neighborhood of Sweet Auburn to his rise as a civil rights leader on the well-walked streets of Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr., was many things throughout his storied life: an activist, a preacher, a dreamer. At times treated as more myth than man. But in this invigorating, inspiring adaptation of the triumphant bestseller, readers will meet a Dr. King like no other. A human being with his own triumphs and flaws, his own complexities and contradictions.

Condensing the 565-page original into a compact, compulsively readable 190-page narrative, this young adult edition of King: A Life highlights key aspects of the author's never-before-seen research as it reaffirms and recontextualizes the lasting effects and implications of MLK's work for present-day teens, crafting a nuanced portrayal of a man as devoted to his cause as he was complicated by it.


Jonathan Eig is a former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. He is the New York Times bestselling author of five books, including Ali: A Life, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. Ken Burns calls him "a master storyteller," and Eig's books have been listed among the best of the year by The Washington PostChicago TribuneSports Illustrated, and Slate. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children.

Yohuru Williams is a professor of history and founding director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. A regular contributor to a variety of media programming on CNN and the History Channel, he is the author of numerous books, including Teaching U.S. History Beyond the Textbook. He lives in Minnesota.

Michael G. Long is the author and editor of several books on nonviolent protests and civil rights history. His commentary about civil rights has appeared in many national media outlets such as the AFRO, the Los Angeles Times, and ESPN. He lives in Pennsylvania.


 

A Junior Library Guild Selection

“This searching study leaves King’s shining legacy intact, all the more admirable for its attachment to a fallible man who is glimpsed here behind the icon. A frank and nuanced character study.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Decades of Martin Luther King Jr. biographies may suggest that there’s no uniquely compelling approach left to documenting the life of the oft-lionized civil rights leader, but award-winning biographer Eig frames this adapted edition as an effort to make Dr. King ‘a person, not just a monument, not just a holiday, not just Mr. I-Have-a-Dream.’ . . . While the backmatter offers the meat for potential Black history month book reports (e.g., extra facts, a timeline), a strength of this young readers’ edition is how it whets the appetite for further exploration of this invaluable historical moment as well as Little Mike himself.” —BCCB

“Eig, along with Williams and Long, presents a comprehensive time line of Martin Luther King’s entire life, from birth to untimely death . . . By describing who King was as a person and how he came to achieve what he did, this supports young readers’ journeys to not just read about King but to understand him.” —Booklist

 

ISBN: 9780374393106

256 pages | Announced 1st Print: 30K b&w photos 8.6 in H | 5.7 in W | 1 in T | 0.7 lb Wt

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