Wednesday, May 17, 2023 7:00 PM

Location:
The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
441 John Lewis Freedom Parkway, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30307

The first full biography in decades, "King" mixes revelatory and exhaustive new research with brisk and accessible storytelling to forge the definitive life for our times.

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and A Cappella Books welcome former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Eig to discuss his highly-anticipated new biography, "King: A Life," on Wednesday, May 17, at 7 PM. The author will appear in conversation with Valerie Jackson, former First Lady of Atlanta and award-winning host of WABE's "Between the Lines."

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the venue. The author will sign after the program.

About the Book

Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig's "King: A Life" is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.—and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. He casts fresh light on the King family's origins as well as MLK's complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. King reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation's most mourned martyr.

In this landmark biography, Eig gives us an MLK for our times: a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history's greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.

Includes 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.

About the Author

Jonathan Eig is a former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. He is the New York Times bestselling author of five books, including "Ali: A Life," "Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig," and "Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season." Ken Burns calls him "a master storyteller," and Eig's books have been listed among the best of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated, and Slate. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children.

About the Conversation Partner

Valerie Richardson Jackson’s life embodies an innovative spirit and a list of firsts for Black Americans. She established the first clerical training program for the Neighborhood Youth Corps in Richmond, Virginia. Upon being offered a scholarship, she was among the early Black women to earn an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. During her tenures as Atlanta‘s First Lady in her husband Maynard Jackson's three terms as mayor, Valerie served as Special Advisor to the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and on numerous civic boards and organizations. Her voice is often recognized as that of the award-winning host, for over 20 years, of WABE’s "Between the Lines" and "Valerie Jackson In Conversation," talking with some of today’s most notable writers and thinkers. She is Chair of the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation, emphasizing scholarship, community service and economic opportunities for minorities, and among her many honors she was named one of 100 Women of Influence in Atlanta by the Atlanta Business League and inducted into the YWCA of Greater Atlanta’s Academy of Women Achievers.