The speech - BookWyrm

178 pages

English language

Published May 9, 2013

ISBN:: 978-1-60846-322-0
OCLC Number:: 829740195

"Praise for Gary Younge's Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disunited States: "Abroad in America, Gary Younge is an acutely skeptical observer." -Jonathan Raban "Gary Younge is an excellent journalist-a critical writer at a critical time."-Andrea Levy "One of the tiny handful of contemporary journalists left who is consistently worth reading. A voice for our times." -Stuart Hall Praise for No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey Through the American South: "Younge's book is a blend of travelogue, historical research, and social commentary leavened with the sharp eyes and tongue of an outsider examining the American racial milieu." -Booklist Praise for Who Are We-And Should it Matter: "Penetrating and provocative." -The Guardian It was a sweltering eighty-seven degrees when Martin Luther King took the stage at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. He was the final speaker after a long day. The crowd, which numbered in the tens …

"Praise for Gary Younge's Stranger in a Strange Land: Encounters in the Disunited States: "Abroad in America, Gary Younge is an acutely skeptical observer." -Jonathan Raban "Gary Younge is an excellent journalist-a critical writer at a critical time."-Andrea Levy "One of the tiny handful of contemporary journalists left who is consistently worth reading. A voice for our times." -Stuart Hall Praise for No Place Like Home: A Black Briton's Journey Through the American South: "Younge's book is a blend of travelogue, historical research, and social commentary leavened with the sharp eyes and tongue of an outsider examining the American racial milieu." -Booklist Praise for Who Are We-And Should it Matter: "Penetrating and provocative." -The Guardian It was a sweltering eighty-seven degrees when Martin Luther King took the stage at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. He was the final speaker after a long day. The crowd, which numbered in the tens of thousands, had begun to leave. King took a deep breath and threw back his shoulders. "I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a 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 unearths the fascinating chronicle behind The Speech and the revealing events surrounding the march on Washington. Gary Younge is an author, broadcaster, and award-winning columnist for the Guardian and the Nation. His books include Who are We--And Should it Matter In the 21st Century and No Place Like Home, shortlisted for the Guardian first book award."--

"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 unearths the fascinating chronicle behind The Speech and the revealing events surrounding the march on Washington"--

7 editions

Scott F reviewed The Speech by Gary Younge

Solid history/analysis of MLK Jr's dream

3 stars

An illuminating short book analyzing the context and legacy of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, including the march on Washington it was part of.

I began the book skeptically, thinking the speech was uninteresting: too moderate and reformist to be relevant anymore. While the author seems to agree Dr. King's later "Beyond Vietnam" speech criticizing war and capitalism was better, he ultimately persuaded me to re-evaluate the "dream" speech in its totality, including economic demands (called out in the much less-quoted "blank check" part of the speech) that remain unmet. Conservatives have long quoted one line of the speech out of context to justify "colorblind" policies that ignore the legacy of racism, and I guess I partially fell for it.

This book having been written in 2013, its Obama-era analysis of the speech's legacy in the present day now feels dated. But I'd recommend this to …

An illuminating short book analyzing the context and legacy of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, including the march on Washington it was part of.

I began the book skeptically, thinking the speech was uninteresting: too moderate and reformist to be relevant anymore. While the author seems to agree Dr. King's later "Beyond Vietnam" speech criticizing war and capitalism was better, he ultimately persuaded me to re-evaluate the "dream" speech in its totality, including economic demands (called out in the much less-quoted "blank check" part of the speech) that remain unmet. Conservatives have long quoted one line of the speech out of context to justify "colorblind" policies that ignore the legacy of racism, and I guess I partially fell for it.

This book having been written in 2013, its Obama-era analysis of the speech's legacy in the present day now feels dated. But I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about the civil rights movement and what its most famous speech and march were really about (and how Dr. King was posthumously co-opted).

Subjects

Civil rights movements
History and criticism
History
Speeches, addresses, etc., American

Places

United States