Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
This year marks the fortieth
anniversary of the 1963 march on Washington and King's famous "I Have a
Dream" speech, which thrust King into the national spotlight, provided a
barometer of the national conscience, and reflected on both our past
transgressions and future moral objectives. Hansen examines King's speech on
numerous levels and in many contexts, revealing the confluence of forces
that account for its unprecedented impact. He explores King's theological
and intellectual focus and his roots in the tradition of black Baptist
sermons. Hansen uses King's speech to examine the competing elements of an
American society divided along North-South, black-white lines and to explore
the contradictions of such interests along a moral continuum. King's speech
provided a common code of moral respect, but not consensus of action, as
diverse elements agreed to its greatness or purpose but not its call to act.
Readers interested in the moral issues tied to the civil rights struggle
will enjoy Hansen's analysis. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
A riveting account of the origins and legacy of
"I Have a Dream"
Forty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr.
electrified the nation when he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech from
the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King's prophetic utterances started the
long overdue process of changing America's idea of itself. His words would
enter the American lexicon, galvanizing the civil rights movement, becoming
a touchstone for all that the country might someday achieve.
The Dream is the first book about Martin
Luther King, Jr.'s legendary "I Have a Dream" speech. Opening with an
enthralling account of the August day in 1963 that saw 250,000 Americans
converge at the March on Washington, The Dream delves into the
fascinating and little-known history of King's speech. Hansen explores
King's compositional strategies and techniques, and proceeds to a brilliant
analysis of the "I Have a Dream" speech itself, examining it on various
levels: as a political treatise, a work of poetry, and as a masterfully
delivered and improvised sermon bursting with biblical language and imagery.
In tracing the legacy of "I Have a Dream" since
1963, The Dream insightfully considers how King's incomparable speech
"has slowly remade the American imagination," and led us closer to King's
visionary goal of a redeemed America.
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