"The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr." is not an accurate title for this book. An author typically writes their autobiography later in life, reflecting on all their experiences. This book is a collection of Dr. King's journals, published writings, notes, and speeches.

These writings provide insights into the history and philosophy of the civil rights icon. He talks of how the revolutionary tactics of Mahatma Gandhi inspired his commitment to peaceful protests. He draws inspiration from the Old and New Testaments, philosophers, and history. He speaks of the need for the courage to act and to speak out against injustice. He tells of the evolution of his attitude toward America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and his influence with the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. The reader learns about the evolution of King's thinking - for example, in his eventual opposition to the war in Vietnam. He tells of the protests he helped to organize and lead in Montgomery and Selma. King briefly met Malcolm X, whose violent methods he opposed, but the two did not have time for a meaningful face-to-face dialogue.

Dr. King had every reason to respond with violence to the racism of his day. He was the victim of a near-fatal knife attack, a fire bombing of his house, politically-motivated arrests, and countless threats against himself and his family. He displayed almost infinite patience in his dedication to peaceful protests.

Prophetically, he talks about his own mortality. In one of his most inspired speeches, King tells a crowd in Memphis: "I've been to the mountaintop! I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!" An assassin took Dr. King's life the following morning.

We will never know if King planned to write such a book because he was assassinated in 1968 at the age of 39. This collection is as close as we will come to that unwritten, unpublished volume. It is worth reading because Dr. King's words still have meaning today - almost six decades after his death!