A deeply intimate chronicle of the last 31 hours of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life draws on dozens of interviews with Memphis insiders and recently released archival materials to share insights into his personal and political activities as well as his marital difficulties at the same time James Earl Ray orchestrated his assassination. - (Baker & Taylor)

An account of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., emphasizes his role in the sanitation strike, his plans for the Poor People's Campaign, dissent within the civil rights movement, and his hope to prove the continued effectiveness of nonviolence. - (Baker & Taylor)

An “immersive, humanizing, and demystifying” (Charles Blow, New York Times) look at the final hours of Dr. King’s life as he seeks to revive the non-violent civil rights movement and push to end poverty in America.

At 10:33 a.m. on April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., landed in Memphis on a flight from Atlanta. A march that he had led in Memphis six days earlier to support striking garbage workers had turned into a riot, and King was returning to prove that he could lead a violence-free protest.

King’s reputation as a credible, non-violent leader of the civil rights movement was in jeopardy just as he was launching the Poor Peoples Campaign. He was calling for massive civil disobedience in the nation’s capital to pressure lawmakers to enact sweeping anti-poverty legislation. But King didn’t live long enough to lead the protest. He was fatally shot at 6:01 p.m. on April 4 in Memphis.

Redemption is an intimate look at the last thirty-one hours and twenty-eight minutes of King’s life. King was exhausted from a brutal speaking schedule. He was being denounced in the press and by political leaders as an agent of violence. He was facing dissent even within the civil rights movement and among his own staff at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In Memphis, a federal court injunction was barring him from marching. As threats against King mounted, he feared an imminent, violent death. The risks were enormous, the pressure intense.

On the stormy night of April 3, King gathered the strength to speak at a rally on behalf of sanitation workers. The “Mountaintop Speech,” an eloquent and passionate appeal for workers’ rights and economic justice, exhibited his oratorical mastery at its finest.

Redemption draws on dozens of interviews by the author with people who were immersed in the Memphis events, features recently released documents from Atlanta archives, and includes compelling photos. The fresh material reveals untold facets of the story including a never-before-reported lapse by the Memphis Police Department to provide security for King. It unveils financial and logistical dilemmas, and recounts the emotional and marital pressures that were bedeviling King. Also revealed is what his assassin, James Earl Ray, was doing in Memphis during the same time and how a series of extraordinary breaks enabled Ray to construct a sniper’s nest and shoot King.

Original and riveting, Redemption relives the drama of King’s final hours. - (Random House, Inc.)

Joseph Rosenbloom is an award-winning journalist who has been a staff reporter for the Boston Globe, an investigative reporter for Frontline, and a senior editor for Inc. magazine. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, American Prospect, among other publication, and lives in Newton, Massachusetts. - (Random House, Inc.)

Library Journal Reviews

By 1968, the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68), faced fierce criticism. Emboldened segregationists attacked King at any opportunity. The Black Panthers, headed by Stokely Carmichael, urged more confrontational and violent actions to bring about change. King's vocal opposition to the Vietnam War and his shift in priorities to the Poor People's Campaign alienated some of his closest and longtime followers. For his own part, King's strenuous schedule of speeches and travel was exhausting. Amid this atmosphere, King was drawn to Memphis to advocate on behalf of garbage collectors who were going on strike. Journalist Rosenbloom, in his first book, chronicles the final 31 hours of King's life. Using memoirs, interviews, and newly released papers from the files of Coretta Scott King and William Rutherford, former director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Rosenbloom paints a taut and detailed picture of King's and his assassin's movements in Memphis. This slim volume makes palpable the culminating strain and fatigue King experienced during that fateful trip. VERDICT The final hours of King's life come into sharp focus in this must-read for anyone interested in the life of the civil rights leader.—Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH