Rieder, Jonathan. Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation. Bloomsbury. Apr. 2013.240p. notes.index. ISBN 9781620400586. $25;ebk. ISBN 9781620400609

摘要

The letter that Martin Luther King Jr. penned from a Birmingham, Alabama, jail 50 years ago is one of the great calls for universal social justice that continues to inspire activists, as Rieder (sociology, Columbia Univ.; The Word of the Lord b Upon Me: The Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr.) points out. The letter was King's impassioned response to eight white Birmingham clergymen who had appealed to him for moderation. Here Rieder first discusses the events that led to King's arrest, then addresses the letter's importance during the civil rights struggle.