A marvelous book, really special, and quite different from even the best of the King books. Jonathan Rieder demonstrates that King exemplified postethnic ideals, refusing to abandon either the distinctive solidarity of black people or the mutual support that human beings could offer one another across the lines of color and faith. -- David Hollinger, author of Postethnic America Jonathan Rieder saves Martin Luther King, Jr. from the curse of canonization. He replaces the hagiographic, air-brushed images, and the kitschy plastic dolls with a brilliant reading of King's chameleon-like gift for effortlessly gliding--in public and private--between ethnic and universal idioms, between the street and theological seminars. The Word of the Lord is Upon Me is, then, a superb addition to King scholarship that restores our perception of this great man's complexity, flaws, scars and profound humanity. -- Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage and Dreamer: A Novel A stunning book that offers a genuinely fresh take on the most prominent figure of the civil rights movement. Jonathan Rieder's interpretation of King is not just incisive; it is eloquent and original. -- Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School Martin Luther King, Jr., the voice of the Civil Rights Movement, knew more than most that words matter, that they are fundamental to any truly democratic mass political movement. In this absolutely brilliant new book, Jonathan Rieder shows how King crafted his rhetoric with a total command of the English language in its standard English register and its African American idioms. Rieder movingly represents King as a master performer who was never less than authentic, who always matched action to thought as manifested in the beauty of his words... Fantastic, an amazing book. -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University Jonathan Rieder has done Dr. King and history a great service by demonstrating the complexity of King's thought and warning us of the dangers of reducing him to any one aspect of his teaching. Few writers have paid such careful attention to what King said or why he said it, and few have worked so hard to overturn the stereotypes that surround King. All who revere the Good News of justice and reconciliation that King brought to our nation will be moved by Rieder's pathbreaking account. -- E.J. Dionne, Jr., author of Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right
Jonathan Rieder is Professor of Sociology at Barnard College, Columbia University.
A marvelous book, really special, and quite different from even the
best of the King books. Jonathan Rieder demonstrates that King
exemplified postethnic ideals, refusing to abandon either the
distinctive solidarity of black people or the mutual support that
human beings could offer one another across the lines of color and
faith.
*David Hollinger, author of Postethnic America*
Jonathan Rieder saves Martin Luther King, Jr. from the curse of
canonization. He replaces the hagiographic, air-brushed images, and
the kitschy plastic dolls with a brilliant reading of King's
chameleon-like gift for effortlessly gliding—in public and
private—between ethnic and universal idioms, between the street and
theological seminars. The Word of the Lord is Upon Me is, then, a
superb addition to King scholarship that restores our perception of
this great man's complexity, flaws, scars and profound
humanity.
*Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage and Dreamer: A
Novel*
A stunning book that offers a genuinely fresh take on the most
prominent figure of the civil rights movement. Jonathan Rieder's
interpretation of King is not just incisive; it is eloquent and
original.
*Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law
School*
Martin Luther King, Jr., the voice of the Civil Rights Movement,
knew more than most that words matter, that they are fundamental to
any truly democratic mass political movement. In this absolutely
brilliant new book, Jonathan Rieder shows how King crafted his
rhetoric with a total command of the English language in its
standard English register and its African American idioms. Rieder
movingly represents King as a master performer who was never less
than authentic, who always matched action to thought as manifested
in the beauty of his words… Fantastic, an amazing book.
*Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor,
Harvard University*
Jonathan Rieder has done Dr. King and history a great service by
demonstrating the complexity of King's thought and warning us of
the dangers of reducing him to any one aspect of his teaching. Few
writers have paid such careful attention to what King said or why
he said it, and few have worked so hard to overturn the stereotypes
that surround King. All who revere the Good News of justice and
reconciliation that King brought to our nation will be moved by
Rieder's pathbreaking account.
*E. J. Dionne, Jr., author of Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and
Politics after the Religious Right*
[This] important book on King's rhetoric offers a more complex view
of King than the sanitized version that is so popular, especially
among conservative commentators.
*Washington Post*
As Jonathan Rieder recognizes in The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me,
Martin Luther King Jr. embodied the tension between the moral
universalism of the black church and its racially specific
character. Leading a movement dedicated to the destruction of
racial barriers, King extolled the ideal of integration in
hauntingly beautiful language. Yet King's own organization was
specifically designed to be a black organization, not an
interracial one. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
rested upon a base of African American churches. It accepted help
from whites but insisted that primary leadership rest firmly in
black hands… Focusing on the words he spoke in public and in
private, and examining his interactions with the blacks and whites
who were closest to him, Rieder shows that attempts to define King
in terms of white and black influences distort the man and his
message. Whether speaking to blacks or whites, King articulated a
consistent moral vision that drew upon the Bible, the tenets of
liberal Protestantism, the insights of philosophy, and an idealism
that was quintessentially American… By the conclusion of this
invaluable [book], Rieder's argument is wholly convincing: The key
to King's leadership 'lay in the substance of his arguments and the
commitments that animated it.'
*Washington Post Book World*
[A] rich, thoughtful new book… The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me is
an extremely learned book, one that Rieder has been working on for
almost two decades… Anyone who takes the time to peruse The Word of
the Lord Is Upon Me will have no doubt: The real Martin Luther King
Jr. more often sounded like Jeremiah Wright than like Barack
Obama.
*Los Angeles Times Book Review*
[The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me] does a service to King's legacy,
by lifting the layers of oversimplifying myth and legend to reveal
a deeper, more complex man.
*Newsweek*
Rieder provides fresh insight into the mass appeal of Martin Luther
King Jr. to different communities by examining the structure and
background influences of the rhetoric of his public sermons and
speeches.
*Library Journal*
[An] admirably diligent book… Rieder also skillfully debunks the
idea that the 'black'-talking King was 'real,' while the one who
invoked Reinhold Niebuhr was a mere performer (like a stand-up
comic, for instance), trying to appeal to powerful whites. Both
Kings were real. It was hardly unknown for him to mention the likes
of agape and Martin Buber to black audiences, and they were
thrilled at the display of erudition.
*New York Times Book Review*
Eye-opening… While the various Pulitzer Prize–winning biographies
of King have documented his political trajectory with admirable
precision, they have also shied away from exploring the patterns of
King's mind, how his faith was channeled into language that mixed
polish and fervor, aggression and empathy, as it confronted the
dilemmas of black liberation. Rieder provides the best anatomy of
King's verbal imagination yet.
*The Nation*
The question of black identity is maddeningly complicated. In an
extraordinary new book, The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me: The
Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jonathan Rieder
details the different cultures and subcultures to which Dr. King
tailored his message with striking success. He could, in turn, be
raucous, smooth, erudite, eloquent, vulgar, and even salacious.
This does not mean he was a chameleon or a hypocrite. Rather, says
Rieder, 'he had an uncommon ability to glide in and out of black,
white, and other idioms and identities in an elaborate dance of
empathy.' He adds, 'The constant for King lay beyond language,
beyond performance, beyond race. The core of the man was the power
of his faith, his love of humanity, and an irrepressible resolve to
free black people, and other people too.' From his actions on the
public stage and from our times together, that is how I remember
Dr. King.
*First Things*
Sociologist Rieder has produced a careful reading of Martin Luther
King Jr.'s many speaking styles. Pulling together his backstage
talk with black comrades, sermons, speeches in the mass rallies of
the Civil Rights Movement, writings, and major public addresses,
Rieder shows King's tremendous skill in weaving together many
different kinds of sources into the right form for each audience.
The author argues against the view that King was authentic when
speaking in a black idiom to a black audience, but artfully
accommodating when using 'white material' before a white audience.
Instead, Rieder shows that King drew easily on black folk
expressions, highbrow theology, the Founding Fathers, gospel music,
and, especially, the rich language of the Bible to express himself
genuinely before all kinds of audiences. This book is especially
valuable in comparing written versus spoken versions of the same
sermons and speeches, and versions given before predominantly white
and black audiences. Rieder does not paper over King's sex talk,
racial jokes, unacknowledged borrowing, and outright plagiarism,
but puts all of this in the context of King's real mastery of
moving, prophetic speech.
*Choice*
A marvelous book, really special, and quite different from even the
best of the King books. Jonathan Rieder demonstrates that King
exemplified postethnic ideals, refusing to abandon either the
distinctive solidarity of black people or the mutual support that
human beings could offer one another across the lines of color and
faith. -- David Hollinger, author of Postethnic America
Jonathan Rieder saves Martin Luther King, Jr. from the curse of
canonization. He replaces the hagiographic, air-brushed images, and
the kitschy plastic dolls with a brilliant reading of King's
chameleon-like gift for effortlessly gliding-in public and
private-between ethnic and universal idioms, between the street and
theological seminars. The Word of the Lord is Upon Me is,
then, a superb addition to King scholarship that restores our
perception of this great man's complexity, flaws, scars and
profound humanity. -- Charles Johnson, author of Middle
Passage and Dreamer: A Novel
A stunning book that offers a genuinely fresh take on the most
prominent figure of the civil rights movement. Jonathan Rieder's
interpretation of King is not just incisive; it is eloquent and
original. -- Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law,
Harvard Law School
Martin Luther King, Jr., the voice of the Civil Rights Movement,
knew more than most that words matter, that they are fundamental to
any truly democratic mass political movement. In this absolutely
brilliant new book, Jonathan Rieder shows how King crafted his
rhetoric with a total command of the English language in its
standard English register and its African American idioms. Rieder
movingly represents King as a master performer who was never less
than authentic, who always matched action to thought as manifested
in the beauty of his words... Fantastic, an amazing book. -- Henry
Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard
University
Jonathan Rieder has done Dr. King and history a great service by
demonstrating the complexity of King's thought and warning us of
the dangers of reducing him to any one aspect of his teaching. Few
writers have paid such careful attention to what King said or why
he said it, and few have worked so hard to overturn the stereotypes
that surround King. All who revere the Good News of justice and
reconciliation that King brought to our nation will be moved by
Rieder's pathbreaking account. -- E. J. Dionne, Jr., author of
Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics after the Religious
Right
[This] important book on King's rhetoric offers a more complex view
of King than the sanitized version that is so popular, especially
among conservative commentators. -- E. J. Dionne, Jr. * Washington
Post *
As Jonathan Rieder recognizes in The Word of the Lord Is Upon
Me, Martin Luther King Jr. embodied the tension between the
moral universalism of the black church and its racially specific
character. Leading a movement dedicated to the destruction of
racial barriers, King extolled the ideal of integration in
hauntingly beautiful language. Yet King's own organization was
specifically designed to be a black organization, not an
interracial one. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
rested upon a base of African American churches. It accepted help
from whites but insisted that primary leadership rest firmly in
black hands... Focusing on the words he spoke in public and in
private, and examining his interactions with the blacks and whites
who were closest to him, Rieder shows that attempts to define King
in terms of white and black influences distort the man and his
message. Whether speaking to blacks or whites, King articulated a
consistent moral vision that drew upon the Bible, the tenets of
liberal Protestantism, the insights of philosophy, and an idealism
that was quintessentially American... By the conclusion of this
invaluable [book], Rieder's argument is wholly convincing: The key
to King's leadership 'lay in the substance of his arguments and the
commitments that animated it.' -- Adam Fairclough * Washington Post
Book World *
[A] rich, thoughtful new book... The Word of the Lord Is Upon
Me is an extremely learned book, one that Rieder has been
working on for almost two decades... Anyone who takes the time to
peruse The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me will have no doubt:
The real Martin Luther King Jr. more often sounded like Jeremiah
Wright than like Barack Obama. -- David J. Garrow * Los Angeles
Times Book Review *
[The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me] does a service to King's
legacy, by lifting the layers of oversimplifying myth and legend to
reveal a deeper, more complex man. -- Allison Samuels * Newsweek
*
Rieder provides fresh insight into the mass appeal of Martin Luther
King Jr. to different communities by examining the structure and
background influences of the rhetoric of his public sermons and
speeches. -- Charles Murray * Library Journal *
[An] admirably diligent book... Rieder also skillfully debunks the
idea that the 'black'-talking King was 'real,' while the one who
invoked Reinhold Niebuhr was a mere performer (like a stand-up
comic, for instance), trying to appeal to powerful whites. Both
Kings were real. It was hardly unknown for him to mention the likes
of agape and Martin Buber to black audiences, and they were
thrilled at the display of erudition. -- John McWhorter * New York
Times Book Review *
Eye-opening... While the various Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies
of King have documented his political trajectory with admirable
precision, they have also shied away from exploring the patterns of
King's mind, how his faith was channeled into language that mixed
polish and fervor, aggression and empathy, as it confronted the
dilemmas of black liberation. Rieder provides the best anatomy of
King's verbal imagination yet. -- Scott Saul * The Nation *
The question of black identity is maddeningly complicated. In an
extraordinary new book, The Word of the Lord Is Upon Me: The
Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jonathan
Rieder details the different cultures and subcultures to which Dr.
King tailored his message with striking success. He could, in turn,
be raucous, smooth, erudite, eloquent, vulgar, and even salacious.
This does not mean he was a chameleon or a hypocrite. Rather, says
Rieder, 'he had an uncommon ability to glide in and out of black,
white, and other idioms and identities in an elaborate dance of
empathy.' He adds, 'The constant for King lay beyond language,
beyond performance, beyond race. The core of the man was the power
of his faith, his love of humanity, and an irrepressible resolve to
free black people, and other people too.' From his actions on the
public stage and from our times together, that is how I remember
Dr. King. -- Richard John Neuhaus * First Things *
Sociologist Rieder has produced a careful reading of Martin Luther
King Jr.'s many speaking styles. Pulling together his backstage
talk with black comrades, sermons, speeches in the mass rallies of
the Civil Rights Movement, writings, and major public addresses,
Rieder shows King's tremendous skill in weaving together many
different kinds of sources into the right form for each audience.
The author argues against the view that King was authentic when
speaking in a black idiom to a black audience, but artfully
accommodating when using 'white material' before a white audience.
Instead, Rieder shows that King drew easily on black folk
expressions, highbrow theology, the Founding Fathers, gospel music,
and, especially, the rich language of the Bible to express himself
genuinely before all kinds of audiences. This book is especially
valuable in comparing written versus spoken versions of the same
sermons and speeches, and versions given before predominantly white
and black audiences. Rieder does not paper over King's sex talk,
racial jokes, unacknowledged borrowing, and outright plagiarism,
but puts all of this in the context of King's real mastery of
moving, prophetic speech. -- B. Weston * Choice *
This largely admiring but flawed analysis explores King, with his "extraordinary performances," as chameleon, consummate showman, exalted Mosaic leader, treacly icon, postethnic man and crossover artist. Sociologist Rieder (Canarsie: The Jews and Italians of Brooklyn Against Liberalism) argues that King's powers of rhetoric allowed him to straddle and dissolve boundaries between black and white and draws patronizing distinctions between King's "black talk" and "white talk" (King "even went so far as to use the word `ontological' in one homily"). Perhaps in an avoidance of academese, Rieder slips into the gossipy ("despite his cavorting, King did not stray with white women") and the flippant ("Surely King's love of ribs and chitterlings was out of sync with the vegetarianism of the `little brown man,' as King sometimes referred to Gandhi"). While acknowledging that the work of sociolinguist Dell Hymes "informs this entire book," Rieder does not show how he uses Hymes's model. Rieder ends up with a commonplace argument-that King used different voices in talking to intimate friends and public audiences, in speaking as pastor and as political figure ("His oratory in the meetings was a means to ends... quite different from those at play in church contemplation or backstage talk with friends"). No news that. (Apr.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
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