Blessed Are the Peacemakers - by S Jonathan Bass (Paperback)

About the Book

"Louisiana paperback edition [published], 2002"--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is arguably the most important written document of the civil rights protest era and a widely read modern literary classic. Personally addressed to eight white Birmingham clergy who sought to avoid violence by publicly discouraging King's civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, the nationally published "Letter" captured the essence of the struggle for racial equality and provided a blistering critique of the gradualist approach to racial justice. It soon became part of American folklore, and the image of King penning his epistle from a prison cell remains among the most moving of the era. Yet, as S. Jonathan Bass explains in the first comprehensive history of King's "Letter," this image and the piece's literary appeal conceal a much more complex tale.

This updated edition of Blessed Are the Peacemakers includes a new foreword by Paul Harvey, a new afterword by James C. Cobb, and a new epilogue by the author.

Review Quotes

[Previous praise] Blessed Are the Peacemakers is a complete story of social change that is far more complicated than the moralistic tale handed down in popular narratives.--Alabama Review

[Previous praise] Bass advances the field of civil rights history with his balanced and thoughtful book.--Virginia Quarterly Review

[Previous praise] Bass's work offers a unique view of the Birmingham demonstrations and their aftermath. It is a story that deserves telling; here the telling is done well.--Florida Historical Quarterly

About the Author

S. Jonathan Bass is professor of history at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and the author of He Calls Me by Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty.