Free at Last

In this third book of the Self-Evident Truth Series, Michael Clay Thompson continues his study of the language used in important statements of equality in American history. Free at Last examines Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech, looking at the poetry, grammar, and vocabulary of the most important modern statement of America's commitment to the equality of its citizens.

Free at Last examines how powerful emotion is enhanced by repeated ideas and words. King's vision of the future and great call to freedom was further achieved by carefully chosen vocabulary conjured by metaphor, by the poetics of meter, alliteration, and assonance, and by other carefully selected grammatical devices. The speech is a masterpiece, and the book explores its construction in depth.