The Promise and the Dream

"A fascinating, elegiac account" of the bond between two of the Civil Rights Era's most important leaders-from the journalist and author of Strange Fruit (Chicago Tribune). With vision and political savvy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy set the United States on a path toward fulfilling its promise of liberty and justice for all. In The Promise and the Dream, Margolick examines their unique bond, both in life and in their tragic assassinations, just sixty-two days apart in 1968. Through original interviews, oral histories, FBI files, and previously untapped contemporaneous accounts, Margolick offers a revealing portrait of these two men and the mutual assistance, awkwardness, antagonism, and admiration that existed between them. MLK and RFK cut distinct but converging paths toward lasting change. Even when they weren't interacting directly, they monitored and learned from one another. Their joint story, a story each man took pains to hide during their lives, is not just gripping history but a window into the challenges we continue to face in America. Complemented by award-winning historian Douglas Brinkley's foreword and more than eighty revealing photos by the foremost photojournalists of the period, The Promise and the Dream offers a compelling look at one of the most consequential but misunderstood relationships in our nation's history.

Autorentext

David Margolick is a longtime contributing editor to Vanity Fair. As a renowned reporter, he has held positions at Newsweek and Portfolio.com. For fifteen years he was the legal affairs reporter at the New York Times, where he covered the trials of O.J. Simpson, Lorena Bobbitt, and William Kennedy Smith. His work has been nominated four times for the Pulitzer Prize. He remains a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review, and his work has appeared in Tablet and The Forward. His previous books include Dreadful, Beyond Glory, and Strange Fruit. He lives in New York City.