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The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s Dream
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DELIVERED his powerful "I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963. Fifty years later, the speech endures as a defining moment in the civil rights movement. It continues to be heralded as a beacon in the ongoing struggle for racial equality. This gripping book is rooted in new and important interviews with Clarence Jones, a close friend of and draft speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr., and Joan Baez, a singer at the march, as well as Angela Davis and other leading civil rights leaders. It brings to life the fascinating chronicle behind "The Speech” and other events surrounding the March on Washington. Younge skillfully captures the spirit of that historic day in Washington and offers a new generation of readers a critical modern analysis of why "I Have a Dream” remains America’s favorite speech."It was over eighty degrees when Martin Luther King Jr. took the stage at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. King was the last speaker. By the time he reached the podium, many in the crowd had started to leave. Not all those who remained could hear him properly, but those who could stood rapt. 'Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed,' said King as though he were wrapping up. 'Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.' Then he set his prepared text aside. [Clarence] Jones saw his stance turn from lecturer to preacher. He turned to the person next to him: 'Those people don’t know it but they’re about to go to church.' A smattering of applause filled a pause more pregnant than most. 'So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.'”
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
26 people are currently reading
465 people want to read
About the author
Gary Younge
18 books180 followersGary Younge is an author, broadcaster and editor-at-large for The Guardian, based in London. He also writes a monthly column, Beneath the Radar, for the Nation magazine and is the Alfred Knobler Fellow for The Nation Institute. He has written five books: Another Day in the Death of America, A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives; The Speech, The Story Behind Martin Luther King’s Dream; Who Are We?, And Should it Matter in the 21st century; Stranger in a Strange Land, Travels in the Disunited States and No Place Like Home, A Black Briton’s Journey Through the Deep South. He has made several radio and television documentaries on subjects ranging from gay marriage to Brexit.
Born in Hertfordshire to Barbadian parents, he grew up in Stevenage until he was 17 when he went to Kassala, Sudan with Project Trust to teach English in a United Nations Eritrean refugee school. On his return he attended Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh where he studied French and Russian, Translating and Interpreting.
In his final year of at Heriot Watt he was awarded a bursary from The Guardian to study journalism at City University and started working at The Guardian in 1993. In 1996 he was awarded the Laurence Stern Fellowship, which sends a young British journalist to work at the Washington Post for three months.
After several years of reporting from all over Europe, Africa, the US and the Caribbean Gary was appointed The Guardian’s US correspondent in 2003, writing first from New York and then Chicago. In 2015 he returned to London where is now The Guardian’s editor-at-large.
He has enjoyed several prizes for his journalism. In 2017 he received the James Aaronson Career Achievement Award from Hunter College, City University of New York. In 2016 he won the Comment Piece of the Year from The Comment Awards and the Sanford St. Martin Trust Radio Award Winner for excellence in religious reporting. In 2015 he was awarded Foreign Commentator of the Year by The Comment Awards and the David Nyhan Prize for political journalism from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. “It’s the powerless on whose behalf he writes,” said the Center’s director. In 2009 he won the James Cameron award for the “combined moral vision and professional integrity” of his coverage of the Obama campaign. From 2001 to 2003 he won Best Newspaper Journalist in Britain’s Ethnic Minority Media Awards three years in a row.
His books have also won many awards. In 2017 Another Day in the Death of America won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from Columbia Journalism School and Nieman Foundation, was shortlisted for the Helen Berenstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism from New York Public Library and The Jhalak prize and was longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Books and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non Fiction from American Library Association. Who Are We? was shortlisted for the Bristol Festival of Ideas Prize. No Place Like Home was shortlisted for The Guardian’s first book award.
He has also enjoyed considerable acclaim from academia. Currently a visiting professor at London South Bank University, he was appointed the Belle Zeller Visiting Professor for Public Policy and Social Administration at Brooklyn College (CUNY) from 2009-2011. in 2016 he was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and in 2007 he was awarded Honorary Doctorates by both his alma mater, Heriot Watt University, and London South Bank University.
He lives in London with his wife and two children.
Born in Hertfordshire to Barbadian parents, he grew up in Stevenage until he was 17 when he went to Kassala, Sudan with Project Trust to teach English in a United Nations Eritrean refugee school. On his return he attended Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh where he studied French and Russian, Translating and Interpreting.
In his final year of at Heriot Watt he was awarded a bursary from The Guardian to study journalism at City University and started working at The Guardian in 1993. In 1996 he was awarded the Laurence Stern Fellowship, which sends a young British journalist to work at the Washington Post for three months.
After several years of reporting from all over Europe, Africa, the US and the Caribbean Gary was appointed The Guardian’s US correspondent in 2003, writing first from New York and then Chicago. In 2015 he returned to London where is now The Guardian’s editor-at-large.
He has enjoyed several prizes for his journalism. In 2017 he received the James Aaronson Career Achievement Award from Hunter College, City University of New York. In 2016 he won the Comment Piece of the Year from The Comment Awards and the Sanford St. Martin Trust Radio Award Winner for excellence in religious reporting. In 2015 he was awarded Foreign Commentator of the Year by The Comment Awards and the David Nyhan Prize for political journalism from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. “It’s the powerless on whose behalf he writes,” said the Center’s director. In 2009 he won the James Cameron award for the “combined moral vision and professional integrity” of his coverage of the Obama campaign. From 2001 to 2003 he won Best Newspaper Journalist in Britain’s Ethnic Minority Media Awards three years in a row.
His books have also won many awards. In 2017 Another Day in the Death of America won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from Columbia Journalism School and Nieman Foundation, was shortlisted for the Helen Berenstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism from New York Public Library and The Jhalak prize and was longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Books and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non Fiction from American Library Association. Who Are We? was shortlisted for the Bristol Festival of Ideas Prize. No Place Like Home was shortlisted for The Guardian’s first book award.
He has also enjoyed considerable acclaim from academia. Currently a visiting professor at London South Bank University, he was appointed the Belle Zeller Visiting Professor for Public Policy and Social Administration at Brooklyn College (CUNY) from 2009-2011. in 2016 he was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and in 2007 he was awarded Honorary Doctorates by both his alma mater, Heriot Watt University, and London South Bank University.
He lives in London with his wife and two children.
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August 4, 2015
The speech of Martin Luther King of August 28, 1963 is probably the most significant speech in U.S. history.
It’s recorded so we can still feel the emotion, the building cadences, and the moral righteousness of what Dr. King was exhorting the American people for.
As the author says this was “the” speech for Dr. King – it was in Washington D.C., it was for all audiences –black, white, the media, government legislators and leaders.
We are provided with the historical lead-up. Dr. King had recently been jailed in Birmingham. The Kennedy’s initially tried to dissuade the “March on Washington”. Dr King at the time was still an unknown entity to the majority of the American people. The Civil Rights Movement was not supported by most Americans – it was looked upon as asking for too much.
And during the speech we are told that about two-thirds of the way through Dr. King began to improvise – to move away from the prepared text. By this it does not mean that he made up words on the fly, but he skipped a portion of the prepared text and then spoke extemporaneously using parts of speeches that he had used in the past, but fitting them into the Washington context. Dr. King was a master speechmaker and as the author says he knew how to make the proper “landing space” for the conclusion of his oratory.
There is also a discussion of the legacy of the speech. Dr. King’s fame had diminished by the time of his assassination in 1968. His moral indignation with the Vietnam War and his continuing campaign against the disenfranchised (the poor and downtrodden) had made him a pariah in many circles – particularly the government. After his death it took many years for the Washington speech to achieve the stature that it has today. As the author states, among other subjects, this speech is indignant of segregation, racism, poverty, war and violence. Many of the issues of the speech are still with us today (in the last few years there has been a whittling away of the Voting Rights Act). But nevertheless, the speech is so strongly optimistic with such a tremendously overpowering dreamscape – of what can be and should be.
As an aside, here is an excerpt from a group of SNCC workers who were directly involved in the physical confrontations of the struggle for racial equality in the American South. They were watching the speeches on a TV that day in a tent about a mile from the Lincoln Memorial:
Page 945-56 Reporting Civil Rights, Part Two: American Journalism 1963-1973
“Then something unforgettable happened. Martin Luther King, Jr. began to talk. We greeted him with crude witticisms about “De Lawd”. Then that rich, resonant voice asserted itself and despite ourselves we became quiet. About halfway through as image built upon stirring image, the voice took on a ringing authority and established its lyrical and rhythmic cadence that was strangely compelling and hypnotic. Somewhere in the artful repetitions of the “Let Freedom Ring” series, we began – despite our stubborn, intemperate hearts – to grunt punctuations to each pause...
By the time the oration triumphantly swept into its closing movement – an expression of faith and moral and political possibility, delivered in the exquisite phrasing and timing of the black preacher’s art – we were transformed. We were on our feet, laughing, shouting, slapping palms, hugging and not an eye was dry. What happened that afternoon in that tent was the most extraordinary, sudden, and total transformation of mood I have ever witnessed.”
The entire speech (about 17:00 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZwmo...
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0yP4...
It’s recorded so we can still feel the emotion, the building cadences, and the moral righteousness of what Dr. King was exhorting the American people for.
As the author says this was “the” speech for Dr. King – it was in Washington D.C., it was for all audiences –black, white, the media, government legislators and leaders.
We are provided with the historical lead-up. Dr. King had recently been jailed in Birmingham. The Kennedy’s initially tried to dissuade the “March on Washington”. Dr King at the time was still an unknown entity to the majority of the American people. The Civil Rights Movement was not supported by most Americans – it was looked upon as asking for too much.
And during the speech we are told that about two-thirds of the way through Dr. King began to improvise – to move away from the prepared text. By this it does not mean that he made up words on the fly, but he skipped a portion of the prepared text and then spoke extemporaneously using parts of speeches that he had used in the past, but fitting them into the Washington context. Dr. King was a master speechmaker and as the author says he knew how to make the proper “landing space” for the conclusion of his oratory.
There is also a discussion of the legacy of the speech. Dr. King’s fame had diminished by the time of his assassination in 1968. His moral indignation with the Vietnam War and his continuing campaign against the disenfranchised (the poor and downtrodden) had made him a pariah in many circles – particularly the government. After his death it took many years for the Washington speech to achieve the stature that it has today. As the author states, among other subjects, this speech is indignant of segregation, racism, poverty, war and violence. Many of the issues of the speech are still with us today (in the last few years there has been a whittling away of the Voting Rights Act). But nevertheless, the speech is so strongly optimistic with such a tremendously overpowering dreamscape – of what can be and should be.
As an aside, here is an excerpt from a group of SNCC workers who were directly involved in the physical confrontations of the struggle for racial equality in the American South. They were watching the speeches on a TV that day in a tent about a mile from the Lincoln Memorial:
Page 945-56 Reporting Civil Rights, Part Two: American Journalism 1963-1973
“Then something unforgettable happened. Martin Luther King, Jr. began to talk. We greeted him with crude witticisms about “De Lawd”. Then that rich, resonant voice asserted itself and despite ourselves we became quiet. About halfway through as image built upon stirring image, the voice took on a ringing authority and established its lyrical and rhythmic cadence that was strangely compelling and hypnotic. Somewhere in the artful repetitions of the “Let Freedom Ring” series, we began – despite our stubborn, intemperate hearts – to grunt punctuations to each pause...
By the time the oration triumphantly swept into its closing movement – an expression of faith and moral and political possibility, delivered in the exquisite phrasing and timing of the black preacher’s art – we were transformed. We were on our feet, laughing, shouting, slapping palms, hugging and not an eye was dry. What happened that afternoon in that tent was the most extraordinary, sudden, and total transformation of mood I have ever witnessed.”
The entire speech (about 17:00 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZwmo...
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0yP4...
September 2, 2013
this was a fantastic little book! basically it has three parts. the first part is a retelling of the events right before and during the march culminating in king delivering his i have a dream speech. this part reads like your best friend recounting all the travails inherent in putting something so huge together. it's full of inside information based on a ton of books and first hand accounts. the best thing too is that if you are wanting to read more, the sources cited our explicitly mentioned and the book is well bibliographied. the second part is almost like an annotated explanation of the speech itself. younge takes apart the speech section by section and sometimes line by line to explain what king meant and the context within which he was making his remarks. this was very helpful and lead easily to the final section which looks at how we remember the speech and whether or not king's dream has been realized. younge is clear that it has not been. he ends with the understanding that while things have gotten somewhat better, the real lived experience of black people in this country is riddled with institutional obstacles to the full realization of the dream. even in an age of a black president younge feels that nothing less than a new movement fighting for racial justice and unafraid of putting forth a utopian vision for the future is needed now more than ever.
May 9, 2017
3.49 stars.
It turns out I knew much less than I thought I did about Dr. King's most famous speech.
Gary Younge opens the book with the full text of the speech and in the following chapters presents the recent history leading up to the speech, the key individuals of the period, the stories from the day of the march, an analysis of the speech itself and finally, a view of civil rights in the Obama era compared to the civil rights climate in 1963.
Younge is a gifted writer and shines when presenting commentary and analysis. A fair amount of the book is an historical account of the early 1960s and, while good, doesn't match the sections when Younge presents his own viewpoints. (Younge's more recent book, "Another Day in the Death of America" was far more interesting to me.)
To the extent you want to know more about the 20th century's most famous speech this book is a good choice. If you're not so interested you can skip this book and your life will be no less fulfilling.
It turns out I knew much less than I thought I did about Dr. King's most famous speech.
Gary Younge opens the book with the full text of the speech and in the following chapters presents the recent history leading up to the speech, the key individuals of the period, the stories from the day of the march, an analysis of the speech itself and finally, a view of civil rights in the Obama era compared to the civil rights climate in 1963.
Younge is a gifted writer and shines when presenting commentary and analysis. A fair amount of the book is an historical account of the early 1960s and, while good, doesn't match the sections when Younge presents his own viewpoints. (Younge's more recent book, "Another Day in the Death of America" was far more interesting to me.)
To the extent you want to know more about the 20th century's most famous speech this book is a good choice. If you're not so interested you can skip this book and your life will be no less fulfilling.
September 3, 2017
The activists; the historical period; the march on Washington; the debates and disagreements; the political establishment; the meaning of the speech - it's all here. Excellent.
March 28, 2017
I liked the historical context and details around the planning of the march. And the dissection of each passage of the speech was enlightening. It was less compelling towards the end when it compared Obama's era with then. But I'd recommend it - it's not a huge time commitment.
January 17, 2025
This book goes into detail why this speech out of all his other speeches was the one to become synonymous with him. I knew a little bit about the history behind it but it was interesting to read about it more in depth and to understand why this one is the one he's most noted for.
November 18, 2021
15 minutes that changed the world. What a great perspective to The Speech, past, present, and future. Go for the audio book - that much better.
September 28, 2014
The bad check speech
[Through my ratings, reviews and edits I'm providing intellectual property and labor to Amazon.com Inc., listed on Nasdaq, which fully owns Goodreads.com and in 2013 posted revenues for $74 billion and $274 million profits. Intellectual property and labor require compensation. Amazon.com Inc. is also requested to provide assurance that its employees and contractors' work conditions meet the highest health and safety standards at all the company's sites].
The struggle over the meaning of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (28 August 1963) and the speech Dr. King delivered on the occasion lasted for fifty years and was lost to the Right as is testified by the fact that King's speech is commonly referred to as the "I have a dream speech". The hijacking of the speech implied editing out from collective memory other 'non-dream' elements that come to the fore again in the context of the current financial crisis and our heavily 'financialized' societies.
King used the metaphor of the bad check or promissory note to dramatize the debt that American society had towards its bottom 12%, a debt of 'opportunity' that King's constituency was now ready to cash in. We now know how sensitive the issue of debt is to our society, and can understand how aggressive King's claim must have appeared that America owed something to those who had nothing. When Kennedy met King immediately after the march and the televised speech, he greeted him saying "I have a dream" and then went on to encourage him and the other civil right movement leaders to do all they could to make Black children get a better education, following the example of the Jews. Bootstrapping was Kennedy's immediate response to King's claim for equality of opportunity - something quite different from legal desegration, which Kennedy was supporting on the basis of 'human decency'. Kennedy's legalism could by no means accommodate the idea of American elites being indebted to the Black community, nor could the majority of the white population, who were at best looking forward to including the 'Negroes' in their marketing strategies as a new segment of consumers - and so Birmingham (Alabama) trade associations had declared.
This little book does not have the ambition to systematically track the distortions and contrasting interpretations of the speech over time, which would be extremely telling of the evolution of American political conscience, but has the merit to prevent us from mentally archiving a problematic episode of world history from the standpoint of the illusory happy ending of Obama's presidency.
[Through my ratings, reviews and edits I'm providing intellectual property and labor to Amazon.com Inc., listed on Nasdaq, which fully owns Goodreads.com and in 2013 posted revenues for $74 billion and $274 million profits. Intellectual property and labor require compensation. Amazon.com Inc. is also requested to provide assurance that its employees and contractors' work conditions meet the highest health and safety standards at all the company's sites].
The struggle over the meaning of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (28 August 1963) and the speech Dr. King delivered on the occasion lasted for fifty years and was lost to the Right as is testified by the fact that King's speech is commonly referred to as the "I have a dream speech". The hijacking of the speech implied editing out from collective memory other 'non-dream' elements that come to the fore again in the context of the current financial crisis and our heavily 'financialized' societies.
King used the metaphor of the bad check or promissory note to dramatize the debt that American society had towards its bottom 12%, a debt of 'opportunity' that King's constituency was now ready to cash in. We now know how sensitive the issue of debt is to our society, and can understand how aggressive King's claim must have appeared that America owed something to those who had nothing. When Kennedy met King immediately after the march and the televised speech, he greeted him saying "I have a dream" and then went on to encourage him and the other civil right movement leaders to do all they could to make Black children get a better education, following the example of the Jews. Bootstrapping was Kennedy's immediate response to King's claim for equality of opportunity - something quite different from legal desegration, which Kennedy was supporting on the basis of 'human decency'. Kennedy's legalism could by no means accommodate the idea of American elites being indebted to the Black community, nor could the majority of the white population, who were at best looking forward to including the 'Negroes' in their marketing strategies as a new segment of consumers - and so Birmingham (Alabama) trade associations had declared.
This little book does not have the ambition to systematically track the distortions and contrasting interpretations of the speech over time, which would be extremely telling of the evolution of American political conscience, but has the merit to prevent us from mentally archiving a problematic episode of world history from the standpoint of the illusory happy ending of Obama's presidency.
October 24, 2013
On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jnr's "Dream" speech on the Mall in Washington this book tells the story of how it came about. I thought I knew the speech, but as it was before my time I know it through a prism of 50 years of selective recall. It has been interesting reading about the contemporary context of the speech, the actual contents, the process of writing it and the responses at the time. The section analysing the speech itself line by line was interesting, particularly all the earlier parts really opposing inequality and poverty, which tend to get ignored in our collective memories. In an interesting final section Gary Younge analyses the legacy of the speech, which naturally brings us to Obama's presidency and his failure to tackle inequalities in American society.
July 29, 2014
I enjoyed reading Gary Younge's book. Gary is a very fine writer and he collects the material for this book and presents it well. I have enjoyed learning more about the added aspects to the speech made by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
February 27, 2024
Did not read enough to give a proper review. Enjoy!
December 19, 2023
This small but mighty book pulls the curtain back on a historic moment most Americans think we know. Gary Younge, an award-winning British journalist, through interviews with the participants, research, and deft analysis, has presented a new history of the March on Washington and particularly Dr. King's speech that was the galvanizing moment of the historic event. This is a must-read for people who want a better understanding about the power and compromise behind political coalition-building, about how Dr. King's most famous, nuanced speech has in the intervening years been reduced to a facile soundbite, and about our need to rediscover the speech's real message and power. I highly recommend it.
February 23, 2023
Author Gary Young’s small book shows us the small changes of what Martin Luther King in DC on August 28, 1963. It was a movement when people began to seek to vote, even when the country had kept Black people out of voting.
After a small, but engaging intro, the author has four chapters: : The Moment, The March, The Speech, and the Legacy. Each has some depth. The first is the most engaging of how many Black people began to so that they could make a very big change in the USA.
It’s a good book for those who want to see what happened in the most important issue in the USA.
After a small, but engaging intro, the author has four chapters: : The Moment, The March, The Speech, and the Legacy. Each has some depth. The first is the most engaging of how many Black people began to so that they could make a very big change in the USA.
It’s a good book for those who want to see what happened in the most important issue in the USA.
January 24, 2025
Most of my memories of learning about Dr. King came from elementary school, which cemented his "I Have a Dream" speech in my mind forever. And yet, there is so much fascinating history about the speech that I not only never knew before but that even most of the general public might not realize. The Speech was an irresistible read that provides the historical context, analyzes the speech line-by-line, and examines its legacy. I was even more enthralled reading this book a second time and intend to add it to my library. I cannot recommend it enough.
March 16, 2019
I now have two favorite books about The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Like my other favorite it draws on personal stories that many haven't heard of. I particularly thought that his section on "Legacy" was good. It points out how 'The Speech' has been attempted to be co-opted, some Gallup statistics, and the so-called 'post-racial' era. Quite a package for a small book.
January 16, 2022
An amazing quick read on the true history of that speech. I do not think you will find a better documentation of the work of Bayard Rustin in that whole day in ‘63 becoming reality. Sadly, I finish this book in January 2022 as we all can see is a time where deplorable neofascists from not only the neofascist G.O.P. but some neoliberal centrist Democrats have all but crushed this “dream”.
July 30, 2017
Younge retells a story many people think they know. What makes the book entertaining is the March on Washington had other people participating who had no idea how historic the event was when it happened.
February 6, 2022
I love Gary Younge and his perspective. Context is important and his work provides that for us. Very good read.
February 27, 2022
having conservatives define what Dr. King meant is ...
April 10, 2023
GÉNIAL : intéressant et hyper actuel
October 17, 2024
Instructif ...d'une érudition fluide...passionnant !!!
February 6, 2021
This book was a little difficult to read. I am not very knowledgeable about the government which made this book harder to read. There was points that i didn’t understand. I was able to learn so much about the world then. This book caught my eye because the school system never taught me about the Martin Luther King Jr. expect for 5th grade. I really wanted to learn more about him and his amazing speech. I think I picked a perfect time to read this. Especially during 2020-2021 and the Black Lives Matter Movement. It allowed me to see what they went through. This book is motivating me to read and learn more about equality in the world today.
November 27, 2013
I think I have Civil Rights Movement fatigue.
I preface my review of The Speech with this because there’s a good chance that my feelings on this book are more due to subject-matter boredom than any shortcomings with this book. Over the past five months, I’ve read several books and watched multiple documentaries, interviews, and specials on the Civil Rights Movement and related events. And while all of them clearly had a lot of thought and work put into them, I’ve been hearing and reading the same points over and over and over again. Which is fine, except that everyone keeps claiming that what they’re relaying is the “forgotten history of the Civil Rights Movement” or a new interpretation or a unique insight into events. No. Stop it. You’re all saying the same thing, and when that many people are saying the same thing, it’s not forgotten, and it’s not a unique or new interpretation.
And I keep believing those claims. It’s like Charlie Brown with the football.
Like the other books and documentaries, The Speech claims to hit on new ground, but treads the same path as all of the others.
Of the four chapters in this slim volume, Mr. Younge devotes one chapter to the speech itself. The first two chapters are the same recitation of facts about events leading up to the 1963 March on Washington (as I said in another review: save your time and watch the one-hour documentary PBS produced, The March) and feature MLK as a peripheral character. The third chapter finally gets to what I wanted, and I did enjoy it, but it’s light on analysis and facts and left me with more questions than answers.
What I will say: Someone unfamiliar with the March on Washington will likely find this more interesting than I did.
Then there’s the fourth chapter. The fourth chapter takes a weird turn towards modern politics and Obama and one memorable section where Mr. Younge seems to be debating with himself on the relationship between MLK and Obama. While I agree with many of Mr. Younge’s points, the chapter was divorced from the rest of the narrative and an unnecessary sidetrack that will make the book feel very dated very quickly.
Much as I like Mr. Younge and respect him as a journalist, this one is a pass for me. I don’t think he delves far enough into the stated subject of the book to justify reading this over some of the other options. Not recommended.
I preface my review of The Speech with this because there’s a good chance that my feelings on this book are more due to subject-matter boredom than any shortcomings with this book. Over the past five months, I’ve read several books and watched multiple documentaries, interviews, and specials on the Civil Rights Movement and related events. And while all of them clearly had a lot of thought and work put into them, I’ve been hearing and reading the same points over and over and over again. Which is fine, except that everyone keeps claiming that what they’re relaying is the “forgotten history of the Civil Rights Movement” or a new interpretation or a unique insight into events. No. Stop it. You’re all saying the same thing, and when that many people are saying the same thing, it’s not forgotten, and it’s not a unique or new interpretation.
And I keep believing those claims. It’s like Charlie Brown with the football.
Like the other books and documentaries, The Speech claims to hit on new ground, but treads the same path as all of the others.
Of the four chapters in this slim volume, Mr. Younge devotes one chapter to the speech itself. The first two chapters are the same recitation of facts about events leading up to the 1963 March on Washington (as I said in another review: save your time and watch the one-hour documentary PBS produced, The March) and feature MLK as a peripheral character. The third chapter finally gets to what I wanted, and I did enjoy it, but it’s light on analysis and facts and left me with more questions than answers.
What I will say: Someone unfamiliar with the March on Washington will likely find this more interesting than I did.
Then there’s the fourth chapter. The fourth chapter takes a weird turn towards modern politics and Obama and one memorable section where Mr. Younge seems to be debating with himself on the relationship between MLK and Obama. While I agree with many of Mr. Younge’s points, the chapter was divorced from the rest of the narrative and an unnecessary sidetrack that will make the book feel very dated very quickly.
Much as I like Mr. Younge and respect him as a journalist, this one is a pass for me. I don’t think he delves far enough into the stated subject of the book to justify reading this over some of the other options. Not recommended.
February 15, 2017
History is better understood in context and with personal stories. This book offers the context of the march on Washington in 1963 where Dr. King gave his speech now known as the "I Have a Dream" speech. The entire speech, which is worth listening to on YouTube as well as reading, is much more than just the "I have a dream" part that many people remember and quote, and it has relevance today. I appreciated being able to read about what went on behind the scenes of both the march and the speech. I learned much from the chapter explaining the parts of the speech and the rhetorical devices used, especially since I've been practicing public speaking myself through Toastmasters.
The chapter on legacy of the speech and how it is often misused left me thinking and planning to read more. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to participate in marches and who wants to understand the civil rights movement better.
The chapter on legacy of the speech and how it is often misused left me thinking and planning to read more. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to participate in marches and who wants to understand the civil rights movement better.
April 10, 2015
Ugh. If this book was just about what it says it's about, then it'd be great. Unfortunately, the author is a columnist (not a historian, I should have checked that before starting it) and chose to write four separate essays with an attempt to link them together-this really becomes tricky with the last essay, since it's about Barack Obama, not MLK's speech.
The writing flows well and is easily digestible, but the actual information on the speech and the history around it is quite light. I was expecting more interviews, more details, more research, more sources, more substance (side note: the author did teach me the word anaphora), but instead I mostly received what felt like a few quick phone interviews and a book report on another book about MLK's speech. He references that book several times in his writing, which made me wonder why I was reading this book and not the one he kept mentioning.
As for the last essay, you can skip it completely. It's a political opinion that isn't even well supported with good information or statistics (he presents many out of context or with improper framing). The author also misses some big points that would help his stance, like the supreme court ruling over affirmative action from the 70s and Harvard's amicus curiae (friend of the court) letter, which does a phenomenal job of explaining the importance of diversity in academic institutions.
So even though I agree with his stance, I hated the unoriginal regurgitated positioning of his arguments, and then I'm annoyed that I'm even reading political opinions from someone I've never heard of when I'm supposed to be reading about MLK's speech.
What's sad is I really loved the actual part about the speech, and even some of the introductory material surrounding it, but the other parts, which seemed to be filler for a lack of content and research, really soured it for me.
The writing flows well and is easily digestible, but the actual information on the speech and the history around it is quite light. I was expecting more interviews, more details, more research, more sources, more substance (side note: the author did teach me the word anaphora), but instead I mostly received what felt like a few quick phone interviews and a book report on another book about MLK's speech. He references that book several times in his writing, which made me wonder why I was reading this book and not the one he kept mentioning.
As for the last essay, you can skip it completely. It's a political opinion that isn't even well supported with good information or statistics (he presents many out of context or with improper framing). The author also misses some big points that would help his stance, like the supreme court ruling over affirmative action from the 70s and Harvard's amicus curiae (friend of the court) letter, which does a phenomenal job of explaining the importance of diversity in academic institutions.
So even though I agree with his stance, I hated the unoriginal regurgitated positioning of his arguments, and then I'm annoyed that I'm even reading political opinions from someone I've never heard of when I'm supposed to be reading about MLK's speech.
What's sad is I really loved the actual part about the speech, and even some of the introductory material surrounding it, but the other parts, which seemed to be filler for a lack of content and research, really soured it for me.
April 5, 2014
A highly readable account of history's most famous speech, the events leading up to it, and the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr's oration.
Younge does a fine job of demythologising King, pointing out that he was the movement's finest speaker but his influence was predicated on a very strong organisational underpinning of activists who did the unglamorous work of ensuring that famous day in August 1963 would never be forgotten, with a quarter of a million people descending from across the country.
In the final chapter, Younge examines the continuing reality of racism in America, and discusses how King's mantle has been claimed and abused by those who have no intention of continuing the dream. The comparison between King and Barack Obama, who has quite deliberately drawn on King's legacy, is particularly pertinent.
The book is recommended as a quick and enjoyable read in its own right for a general audience and historical enthusiasts. The Dream is also an excellent resource for educators wishing to teach about the civil rights movement or even just examine the speech itself for its literary qualities.
Younge does a fine job of demythologising King, pointing out that he was the movement's finest speaker but his influence was predicated on a very strong organisational underpinning of activists who did the unglamorous work of ensuring that famous day in August 1963 would never be forgotten, with a quarter of a million people descending from across the country.
In the final chapter, Younge examines the continuing reality of racism in America, and discusses how King's mantle has been claimed and abused by those who have no intention of continuing the dream. The comparison between King and Barack Obama, who has quite deliberately drawn on King's legacy, is particularly pertinent.
The book is recommended as a quick and enjoyable read in its own right for a general audience and historical enthusiasts. The Dream is also an excellent resource for educators wishing to teach about the civil rights movement or even just examine the speech itself for its literary qualities.
January 16, 2014
This is the most accessible and insightful intro to King and the Civil Rights Movement I have read. This would be the perfect text to read some MLK Day afternoon, buy for a friend, or assign in a course. Younge is a British-born columnist for The Nation and brings a much needed left-internationalist perspective to this history. He takes the 63 March on Washington and instead of narrowly focusing on MLK—who “was a Hegelian” according to one of his lieutenants—he narrates the movement politics around, before, and after the March. MLK comes off neither as a moderate nor as a flawless leader. King ally Bayard Rustin is quoted as saying King couldn’t “organize vampires to go to a bloodbath,” but the genius of King’s speech is highlighted. Finally, Younge provides a convincing account of structural racism in the age of Obama. If after Jim Crow was dismantled “Black Americans no longer fell afoul of the law,” Younge observes, “they still remained on the wrong side of the law of probability.”
October 8, 2020
This book was ok. It serves to provide context for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. It does a good job of fulfilling that purpose. Younge discusses the lead up to the speech, the people involved, the behind-the-scenes issues that not many know about, MLK's speaking patterns, etc.
It is very well written and a short read. The research is sound and does a good job of staying away from propagandizing political ideologies. Much of a reader's interest in this book is a reflection of your interest in the topic at hand. In college, I minored in Africana Studies with a concentration in the Civil Rights era. This book does not provide much more than the average book on the topic.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the Civil Rights movement.
It is very well written and a short read. The research is sound and does a good job of staying away from propagandizing political ideologies. Much of a reader's interest in this book is a reflection of your interest in the topic at hand. In college, I minored in Africana Studies with a concentration in the Civil Rights era. This book does not provide much more than the average book on the topic.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the Civil Rights movement.
March 5, 2018
“The Speech” is a well-researched book that goes beyond a surface-level view of “I Have a Dream” by breaking down the intentions and significance of the language used.
My full review: https://thewitnessbcc.com/book-review...
My full review: https://thewitnessbcc.com/book-review...
September 22, 2013
This is a great book - and a fun way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "The Speech." Gary Younge, who always speaks and writes with nuance and clarity, gives us interesting tidbits and behind the scenes moments. He's gone to great lengths to interview and research this speech and its historical context as well as what we've added to it in terms of prominence and just plain fiction since the Civil Rights laws were passed. An enjoyable, troubling, thought-provoking and interesting read.
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