On sale now from Beacon Press, an important book for today and every day about Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by Cornel West, that emphasizes and celebrates the radical ideas and unapologetic vision that King fought to share with our nation.
“The radical King was a democratic socialist who sided with poor and working people in the class struggle taking place in capitalist societies…. The response of the radical King to our catastrophic moment can be put in one word: revolution—a revolution in our priorities, a reevaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life, and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens…. Could it be that we know so little of the radical King because such courage defies our market-driven world?” —Cornel West, from the Introduction
Every year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is celebrated as one of the greatest orators in US history, an ambassador for nonviolence who became perhaps the most recognizable leader of the civil rights movement. But after more than forty years, few people appreciate how truly radical he was.
Arranged thematically in four parts, The Radical King includes twenty-three selections, curated and introduced by Dr. Cornel West, that illustrate King’s revolutionary vision, underscoring his identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, and his crusade against global imperialism. As West writes, “Although much of America did not know the radical King—and too few know today—the FBI and US government did. They called him ‘the most dangerous man in America.’…This book unearths a radical King that we can no longer sanitize.”
Click here for an excerpt of The Radical King, and a schedule of events that Cornel West will be particiapting in for this important book.
Cornel West will be the guest speaker at the MLK Sunrise Celebration during ALA Midwinter, Monday, February 2nd 6:30am-7:30am McCormick Place, room W181.