King: The Life of Martin Luther King

Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography

The compelling story of Martin Luther King’s life and achievements has become simplified and domesticated in a way that fails to do full justice to his radical vision and importance. Now, in King, we get the most comprehensive and complete portrait ever written about this iconic figure.

The first major new biography of Martin Luther King Jr in over 40 years, Jonathan Eig’s superb King is based on years of research, hundreds of interviews with those who knew him and many thousands of previously unreleased documents, including a huge cache from the FBI. Eig reveals King’s story to be more compelling and more complex than we knew.

For too long, his radical vision for the future has been erased. The hope of his ‘I have a dream’ message and the tragedy of his assassination at the age of 39 have overwhelmed the story of a brilliantly bold and complicated man, which obscures his real significance of today’s society and for the future. His vision went far beyond achieving equal treatment for black men and women, which was only a part of a much greater and more wide-ranging mission - something that has been forgotten by most.

Eig’s fascinating biography not only shines new light on King’s remarkable career, but also humanises him so that he becomes more than a symbol of hope and defiance, but a man with flaws, a sense of humour, as a father and a husband. It’s an essential read for our times.