To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Mission to Save America: 1955-1968

by Stewart Burns

More than a biography, To the Mountaintop is the history of a turbulent epoch that changed the course of American and world history. Moral warrior and nonviolent apostle; man of God rocked by fury, fear, and guilt; rational thinker driven by emotional and spiritual truth -- Martin Luther King Jr. struggled to reconcile these divisions in his soul. Here is an intimate narrative of his intellectual and spiritual journey from cautious liberal, to reluctant radical, to righteous revolutionary. Stewart Burns draws not only on King's speeches, letters, writings, and well-reported strategizing and activities, but also on previously underutilized oral histories of key meetings and events, which present a dramatic account of King and the movement in the crucial years from 1955 to 1968. In a striking departure from earlier books on Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement, Burns focuses on King's biblical faith and spiritual vision as fundamental to his political leadership and shows how these threads wove together a "single garment of destiny," making King the most important social prophet of the twentieth century. King is not portrayed as a lone exalted hero, butas the heart of a fabric of principled leadershipthat stretched from his closest colleagues to the movement's foot soldiers on the streets. This book stresses his shaping by other leaders -- heroic figures such as Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, James Bevel, Bob Moses, and Marian Wright Edelman -- and his conflicted relationships with John and Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. To the Mountaintop is uniquely powerful in presenting actual conversations between King and others, and in showing how King's public words often revealed his private torment. Burns provides a uniquely realist portrait of King and the civil rights movement by revealing the vital but neglected religious character of the story, and by demonstrating how King profoundly experienced the movement as a sacred mission following a path of liberation and sacrifice pioneered by Moses and Jesus.

Genres: Biography, History, American History, Nonfiction

512 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2003

Reviews

[Craig Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book, and provides a strong overview of the early part of the Civil Rights Movement. I really like that the book details many unsung heroes, not familiar to the general public. For the record, I finished this book back in late August, but did not have the chance to update. However, I really enjoyed this text, and I recommend it to anyone interested in a more in depth analysis of the Movement, specifically from the view of the SCLC.

[Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated the presentation of events in this book, because I did not know many details about King's life or work. It gave me exactly what I was looking for in a biography about MLK. Burns does a masterful job at combining historical context with a narrative of King's life. Burns also gives appropriate recognition to the key points of most of King's speeches within that historical context.

[Gregory Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an outstanding book. The story of Dr King has been told many times, but this perspective that blended faith and his life eloquently together was a refreshing read. The ending of the book describing King's tragic demise felt both a great sadness and a tender relief. The lyrics of Precious Lord, Take Me Home were perfect in punctuating the life that this modern prophet lived.

As a history book, it doesn't get much better than this. Dr. King's life and legacy comes through as carefully curated, giving tidbits of information about his inner circle with detail and literary verve. The movement feels real in this book. There's ample evidence in the notes from a variety of solid sources, showing that the book is not merely an homage to a man but a serious inquiry into the faith and philosophy of an American icon.

[Bookmarks Magazine]

Former editor of the King archive at Stanford, Burns draws on oral histories, documents, and interviews to reconstruct the life of one of our great civil rights leaders. He sheds new light on King's personal and spiritual contributions to the movement, placing his thoughts and actions within a liberal, insurgent context: the Montgomery bus boycott, the Vietnam War, the March on Washington. Burns is refreshingly honest about King's missteps and self-doubts. Yet his writing, although straightforward, is not up to snuff. King was eloquent; Burns is not. King, though the first to jump on the bandwagon, was not self-congratulatory; Burns is. Still, To the Mountaintop is a passionate, timely achievement.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Anthony Ambruso · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enlightening book

I enjoyed reading about Dr. King's strategy of non-violent activism. He was a great leader and a man of God. He suffered for his convictions. It was a terrible price. I highly recommend this well-written book.

[Lisa Keating · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay not what I thought it would be. It was more what he did and not how he got there!