THE CONCISE KING: AUDIO BOOK GIVEAWAY AND REVIEW

IN HONOR OF TODAY,
MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
GIVEAWAY ENDED
THE CONCISE KING
EDITED BY CLAYBORNE CARSON
Read by Martin Luther King Jr.,
Coretta Scott King, Dr. Dorothy I. Height,
Edward M. Kennedy, Andrew Young, and others

ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK:

For the first time, an edition of Martin Luther King's most important speeches and selected sermons are assembled and available on CD as a value-priced edition. Hachette Audio believes that the timeless message of King, in his own words and voice, are essential listening for any American and for any world citizen interested in American history, social justice, or non-violent protest. We hope to make these incredibly momentous speeches, extraordinary historical documents, accessible to an even wider population via this affordable offering.

Audio and Video

• Listen to an Excerpt

ABOUT THE EDITOR:

During his undergraduate years at UCLA, Dr. Carson was a participant and observer of African-American political movements. Since receiving his doctorate from UCLA in 1975, he has taught at Stanford University, where he is now professor of history and director of the King Papers Project. Dr. Carson has also been a visiting professor at American University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Emory University and a Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.

Dr. Carson's scholarly publications have focused on African-American protest movements and political thought of the period after World War II. His writings have appeared in leading historical journals and numerous encyclopedias, as well as in popular periodicals. His first book, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s, a study of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was published in 1981. In Struggle won the Frederick Jackson Turner Award of the Organization of American Historians. His other publications include Malcolm X: The FBI File (1991). Dr. Carson also served as senior advisor for a fourteen-part, award-winning, public television series on the civil rights movement entitled "Eyes on the Prize" and co-edited the Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader (1991). In addition, he served as historical advisor for "Freedom on My Mind," which was nominated for an Oscar in 1995, as well as for "Chicano!" (1996) and "Blacks and Jews" (1997).

Dr. Carson has lectured at many colleges and universities in the United States and abroad on a wide range of topics including King, Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, Black-Jewish relations, and the need for a multi-cultural curriculum. He has served as a Visiting Scholar for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and as a speaker in the Organization of American Historians Lectureship Program.

In 1985 Coretta Scott King invited Dr. Carson to direct a long-term project to edit and publish the papers of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This project was initiated by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta and is being conducted in association with Stanford University and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Estate. Under Dr. Carson's direction, the King Papers Project has produced four volumes of a projected fourteen-volume comprehensive edition of King's speeches, sermons, correspondence, publications, and unpublished writings. In addition to these volumes, he has written or co-edited numerous other works based on the papers, including A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1998); The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1998), compiled from the King's autobiographical writings; and A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2001). He also wrote "Passages of Martin Luther King," a docudrama that was initially produced by Stanford's Drama Department in 1993 and more recently presented at Dartmouth College, Willamette University, and the University of Washington. More recently, Dr. Carson collaborated with Roma Design Group of San Francisco to create the winning proposal in an international competition to design a national memorial in Washington, D. C., for Dr. King.

Dr. Carson was born in Buffalo, New York. His wife, Susan Ann Carson, is managing editor of the King Papers Project. The Carsons, who live in Palo Alto, have two grown children. Malcolm Carson, a graduate of Howard University and University of California's Boalt Law School, lives in Oakland and is assistant city attorney for the city of San Francisco. Temera Carson-McFadden, a graduate student in social work at San Jose State University, lives with her husband and three children in East Palo Alto, California.

REVIEW:

What could be more fitting for my blog on the national holiday to celebrate Dr. King's birthday than to have this audio book featured? This Audio Book has an introduction read by his widow, Coretta Scott King and many notables who comment throughout the book about Dr. King and their respect, love, and memories of him. These include the Rev. Dr. Joan Campbell, Hon. Walter E. Fauntroy, Dr. Dorothy I. Height, George McGovern, Keith David, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Andrew Young

The audio book itself is a collection of eight speeches Dr. King made between 1955 and 1968 when he was so involved in the civil rights movement. Included are: his address to the First Montgomery Improvement Association mass meeting in Montgomery, Ala.; "Loving Your Enemies," delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery; "Give Us the Ballet," given at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C.; "Beyond Vietnam," at Riverside Church in New York City; "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," from two church speeches; "Where Do We Go From Here?" at the Convention of Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta; and "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop," which King delivered April 3, 1968, in Memphis, the day before he was assassinated at age 39. Finally, it includes the speech Dr. King is most known for and that is the speech titled "I Have a Dream," delivered at the March on Washington in 1963.

The importance of listening to this audio book is to help us remember a man whose messages of hope, justice, peace, and love were so inspiring to a generation during the birth of the civil rights movement and to those especially who were not alive to hear these speeches as they were happening and to feel the strength and power this wonderful man had on so many of us across the country. The introductions for each speech put them in their historical context so it becomes a lesson in American history. Having a primary source like this available so easily is an amazing joy and perfect on this Martin Luther King Day especially, but also good for any day you wish to have your spirits raised and think perhaps hope is alive once again.

Listen to the WMA excerpt

AN AUDIO BOOK GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO ANNA AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE
3 COPIES OF THIS INSPIRATIONAL
AUDIO BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER

+1 ENTRY: What personal memories do you have of Dr. King? Depending on your age, they can be vastly different. Comment on some of them.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Blog or Tweet about this giveaway and leave a link in your comment!

+1 MORE ENTRY: Follow on Google Connect (see left hand sidebar) or tell me how you do follow (am almost at 600!)

ALL ENTRIES ARE DUE BY
6 PM, EST, JANUARY 31

GOOD LUCK!