Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peter J. Ling is Professor of American Studies in the Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham. His previous works include the edited collection, Gender and the Civil Rights Movement, (2004), a history of the Democratic Party (2004) and a biography of John F. Kennedy (2013).

• 1. Introduction. 2. Junior – becoming Martin Luther King, 1929-55 3. Loving your enemies: Montgomery, 1955-9 4. Finding his way, 1960-2 5. Let the children come to me: Birmingham, 1963 6. Along a tightrope, 1963-4 7. Across a bridge of mistrust: Selma to Montgomery, 1964-5 8. King’s Call: organizing and mobilizing Chicago, 1965-6, Shrinking options: "Black Power" and Vietnam, 1966-7 10. Going for broke: Memphis, 1968 11. Epilogue: In Memoriam – remember King

Praise of the first edition: 'Peter Ling's Martin Luther King, Jr. is a thoughtful, perceptive, and thoroughly well-informed work of scholarship. It is an excellent treatment of an impressive and inspiring human being.' David J. Garrow, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bearing the Cross'This is the best compact biography of Martin Luther King available. With skill and insight, Peter Ling tells the story of King's life within the context of the evolving civil rights movement.' Jim Ralph, Middlebury College'Peter Ling's biography of Martin Luther King Jr. is a singular accomplishment. What other distinguished scholars have written in mammoth volumes, Ling has carefully and succinctly presented in a highly readable and perceptive brief book.' Stephen Lawson, Rutgers University