John Lewis
A Life
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- 18,99 €
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- 18,99 €
Publisher Description
Pulitzer Prize Finalist
New York Times Book Review Top 100 Books of 2024
Explore the “comprehensive and compelling” (Jon Meacham) biography of civil rights leader John Lewis, celebrated as “the conscience of Congress,” through a narrative that weaves together exclusive interviews, never-before-seen FBI files, and documents, offering profound insights into his significant role in American history and the civil rights movement.
Born into poverty in rural Alabama, John Lewis rose to prominence in the civil rights movement, becoming second only to Martin Luther King, Jr. in his contributions. As a Freedom Rider, he played a crucial role in integrating bus stations across the South. Lewis was a prominent leader in the Nashville sit-in movement and delivered a historic speech at the 1963 March on Washington. As the youngest speaker and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he transformed it into a major civil rights organization. His legacy endures through the harrowing events at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where he survived a brutal beating on “Bloody Sunday.”
David Greenberg’s “authoritative…definitive biography” (David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) follows Lewis’s journey beyond the civil rights era, highlighting his leadership in the Voter Education Project, where he helped enroll millions of African American voters across the South. This book uncovers the little-known story of his ascent in politics, first locally in Atlanta and then as a respected member of Congress. As part of the Democratic leadership, Lewis was admired on both sides of the aisle for his unwavering dedication to nonviolent integration and justice.
Rich with new insights, Greenberg’s work captures John Lewis’s influential career through documents from numerous archives, interviews with 275 people who knew him, and rare footage of Lewis speaking from his hospital bed after Selma. John Lewis offers unparalleled details about his personal and professional relationships and stands as the definitive biography of a man whose heroism during the civil rights movement paved the way for a new era of freedom in America.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This soulful biography offers an in-depth look at one of America’s most prolific civil rights activists. Historian and journalist David Greenberg recounts every facet of the epic career of late congressman and activist John Lewis, from his teen years as a budding pacifist preacher to his leadership during the infamous Selma-to-Montgomery march against segregation leading to the Bloody Sunday showdown with police. More than just a retelling of Lewis’ life, Greenberg’s book conveys Lewis’ aspirational spirit, showing that despite his fame, he never forgot his humble beginnings in an emancipated family in segregated Alabama. Greenberg also digs into Lewis’ complex history in Congress, where he was sometimes forced to balance politics with a deep-rooted need to stand up for his predominantly Black Georgia district. If you’re fascinated by the man who called on all of us to get into “good trouble,” pick up John Lewis: A Life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The late civil rights activist and congressman is a paragon of idealism and rectitude in this admiring biography. Rutgers historian Greenberg (Republic of Spin) provides a rousing account of Lewis's youth, from his childhood as the bookish son of a Black farm couple in Alabama under Jim Crow to his participation in pivotal actions as a leader of the Nashville Student Movement and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. These included sit-ins and protests to desegregate Nashville's lunch counters, movie theaters, and hotels; the 1961 Freedom Rides to desegregate Southern bus stations, during which Lewis was savagely beaten by a white mob in Montgomery, Ala.; and the 1965 Selma voting-rights marches, at which Lewis's skull was fractured by a state trooper's club. Greenberg paints Lewis as a stalwart exponent of nonviolence who was genuinely devoted to a Christian ethic of forgiveness—he later reconciled with Alabama's segregationist governor George Wallace and with an ex-Klansman who apologized for punching him out—and shrewdly analyzes how the movement's shifting ideologies eventually put Lewis at odds with younger, more militant activists, leading to his ouster from the SNCC. The book's later chapters follow Lewis's career in congress, where he served as a sort of living reminder of the civil rights movement, by turns excoriating and cajoling legislators to recall the lessons of history. It's a rewarding profile in fortitude.
