Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The most comprehensive, the most thoroughly researched and documented, the most scholarly of the biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr.” —Henry Steele Commanger, Philadelphia Inquirer

Winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award * A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

By the acclaimed biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Nat Turner, and John Brown, Stephen B. Oates's prizewinning Let the Trumpet Sound is the definitive one-volume life of Martin Luther King, Jr. This brilliant examination of the great civil rights icon and the movement he led provides a lasting portrait of a man whose dream shaped American history.

“Drawing on interviews with those who knew King, previously unutilized material at Presidential libraries, and the holdings of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, Mr. Oates has written the most comprehensive account of King’s life yet published. . . . He displays a remarkable understanding of King’s individual role in the civil rights movement. . . . Oates’s biography helps us appreciate how sorely King is missed.” —Eric Foner, New York Times Book Review

Winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award
Winner of the Christopher Award
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year

By the acclaimed biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Nat Turner, and John Brown, Stephen B. Oates's prizewinning Let the Trumpet Sound is the definitive one-volume life of Martin Luther King, Jr. This brilliant examination of the great civil rights icon and the movement he led provides a lasting portrait of a man whose dream shaped American history.

“Oates has written the most comprehensive account of King’s life yet published. . . . Displays a remarkable understanding of King’s individual role in the civil rights movement. . . . Helps us appreciate how sorely King is missed.” - ERIC FONER, New York Times Book Review

“Moving, scholarly, lucid, invaluable. . . . The book on Martin Luther King.” - WILLIAM MANCHESTER, author of The Last Lion

“A monumental work. ... A stirring portrait.” - Publishers Weekly

“Martin Luther King is captured in all his power, glory, and humility.” - Chicago Tribune

“Thrilling. . . . Not only full of drama, but of the real King, his bravery, his triumph, his pain and doubts.” - ROGER WILKINS, Washington Post Book World

“The most comprehensive, the most thoroughly researched and documented, the most scholarly of the biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr.” - HENRY STEELE COMMAGER, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Clearly the best biography we have. . . . Stirring. . . . Evokes King and his epic struggle with you-are-there vividness.” - Newsday