• King: A Life

  • By: Jonathan Eig
  • Narrated by: Dion Graham
  • Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (492 ratings)

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King: A Life

By: Jonathan Eig
Narrated by: Dion Graham
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Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2024 Audie Award for Best Nonfiction Narrator!

Plutarch Awards Nominee, 2024

Long-listed, Time Magazine Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, NPR Best Book of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, BookPage Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Washington Post Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Audible.com Best of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2023

National Book Critics Circle Award—Nominee, 2023

Long-listed, CPL: Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, 2023

Long-listed, New Yorker Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Financial Times Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, 2023

This program is narrated by Dion Graham, narrator of over 300 audiobooks and an AudioFile Golden Voice. Dion has won multiple Earphones and Audie Awards.

"Dion Graham superbly narrates this riveting audiobook, emulating the majestic cadence of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, speeches. He captures the Civil Rights leader's deep, resonant tone; deliberate ministerial intonation; and, during offstage moments, his world-weariness... The result is a monumental biography performed exquisitely by a Golden Voice narrator."—AudioFile Magazine (Earphones Award WInner)

"This gripping biography of a revolutionary leader flies by. Listeners interested in a new perspective of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life will be captivated."—Library Journal

"King is a major achievement. With eloquence, compassion, and grace, Jonathan Eig offers a stirringly contemporary and complex portrait of a fully human—and humane—King . . . A resounding triumph."—Peniel E. Joseph, author of The Sword and the Shield

"Eig has pulled off a kind of miracle. Here is the King we know, think we know and ought to know. Here is the leader, the preacher, the orator, the husband, the father, the martyr, the human being—not with melodramatic halo in place, but in all his heroic, tragic Glory. Hallelujah!"—Ken Burns

Named a most anticipated book of 2023 by The Washington Post, The Millions, and Literary Hub

The first full biography in decades, King mixes revelatory and exhaustive new research with brisk and accessible storytelling to forge the definitive life for our times.

Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.—and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. He casts fresh light on the King family’s origins as well as MLK’s complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. King reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.

In this landmark biography, Eig gives us an MLK for our times: a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history’s greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2022 Jonathan Eig (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Definitive . . . Monumental . . . An extraordinary achievement and an essential life of the iconic warrior for social justice.”Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[A] sweeping biography. Eig gives a rousing recap of King’s triumphs as a civil rights leader . . . [A] complex, nuanced portrait . . . Eig’s evocative prose ably conveys his bravery, charisma, and spell-binding oratory . . . An enthralling reappraisal that confirms King’s relevance to today’s debates over racial justice."Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Eig’s monumental work, the first major biography of Martin Luther King Jr. in decades, challenges the image of him as a peaceful advocate of incremental change. There’s plenty of new detail, including from recently declassified F.B.I. files, allowing King to emerge as a complex, humane figure."—J. Howard Rosier, The New York Times

What listeners say about King: A Life

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Essential Reading

This long overdue book on the iconic MLK draws on extensive interviews with people who knows him, his own works, and thousands of hours of FBI material. King is presented as the legend his is, but not in a hagiographic style; warts and all. Well worth a read.

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This book is sooooo good!

This book took me on a journey of a man and the struggles that we all face in day to day life. It humanize him. I loved this book

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READ THIS BOOK!

The writing is outstanding. The narrator is superb. The story will blow you away. I can't say enough great things about this book. Wow!

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FBI’s invasion of this man’s privacy!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Students should be taught about this great man starting in elementary school throughout college. His wife was brilliant and needs to be incorporated in the teachings also.

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In-depth knowledge of MLK

It was very thorough but also engaging. For any historian this is a must read book. The bonus at the end with the author was very cool

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He was normal man with fears, doubts and flaws.

Nothing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was sad when it was finished. And Mr. Eig should know that it did bring a tear.

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A rounded out humane presentation of a great man

This Book take the time to Present a complete portrait of the man that we know is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And also presents the problem he was trying to solve by displaying its complexities especially in light of where we are as a country today and challenges us to ask what next? What can those of us who care about the dream do to pick up the baton?

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Great in-depth biography of an icon

The narrative is smooth and enjoyable “reading”. I saw how the author wanted to humanize MLK, showing his personal qualities and all the nuances and evolution of his beliefs and aims in his life. And he accomplished this by telling the life story of a great man.

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This is the Story-Blow-by-Blow

Important to remember how bad things were, what was done to try to stop it and to be reminded of how far we have to go to fulfill the dream. MLK was a visionary and a brave leader, worts and all. Eig’s writing style is engaging, as well as riveting. You cannot read this without being moved.

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You will cry at the end

Jonathan Eig is a word wizard. He can take the smallest detail and weave it into a narrative so that you won’t forget. The book is worthy of the hype it’s getting. Highly, highly recommend.

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