THE TRUMPET OF CONSCIENCE

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 1968

Here is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last testament. It is a little book of five cogent essays, and in it King has set forth his assessment of the nightmare America he lived in and the egalitarian America he envisioned. First, he considers the impasse in race relations and calls for militant nonviolence. He assesses the spate of social and ""spiritual evils,"" particularly the Vietnam war, which have alienated the youth, the poor, and the black of America. He urges a vigorous internationalism because of ""the basic fact of the interrelated structure of reality,""--""Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."" Finally, in the famous Christmas Sermon, he expresses his hopes for the future of nonviolence and tells why, even in a climate of riot, it remains a viable means to social revolution. Thus, King does identify himself and his movement as revolutionary. The enemy is the indifferent power structure, specifically Congress. To confront this enemy and shame it to action, he calls for a Poor People's March on Washington. This march with its headquarters, Resurrection City, has become a tense, but still peaceable, outpost of nonviolence; it is a living monument to King. The essays in this book, delivered by King on CBC radio in December, 1967, have, in a sense, become his sounding of taps for his own exemplary career. In another sense, The Trumpet sounds reveille.

Pub Date: June 28, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION