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Table of Contents
About The Book
New York Times Book Review Top 100 Books of 2024
Explore the “comprehensive and compelling” (Jon Meacham) biography of civil rights leader John Lewis, celebrated as “the conscience of Congress,” through a narrative that weaves together exclusive interviews, never-before-seen FBI files, and documents, offering profound insights into his significant role in American history and the civil rights movement.
Born into poverty in rural Alabama, John Lewis rose to prominence in the civil rights movement, becoming second only to Martin Luther King, Jr. in his contributions. As a Freedom Rider, he played a crucial role in integrating bus stations across the South. Lewis was a prominent leader in the Nashville sit-in movement and delivered a historic speech at the 1963 March on Washington. As the youngest speaker and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he transformed it into a major civil rights organization. His legacy endures through the harrowing events at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where he survived a brutal beating on “Bloody Sunday.”
David Greenberg’s “authoritative…definitive biography” (David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) follows Lewis’s journey beyond the civil rights era, highlighting his leadership in the Voter Education Project, where he helped enroll millions of African American voters across the South. This book uncovers the little-known story of his ascent in politics, first locally in Atlanta and then as a respected member of Congress. As part of the Democratic leadership, Lewis was admired on both sides of the aisle for his unwavering dedication to nonviolent integration and justice.
Rich with new insights, Greenberg’s work captures John Lewis’s influential career through documents from numerous archives, interviews with 275 people who knew him, and rare footage of Lewis speaking from his hospital bed after Selma. John Lewis offers unparalleled details about his personal and professional relationships and stands as the definitive biography of a man whose heroism during the civil rights movement paved the way for a new era of freedom in America.
Explore the “comprehensive and compelling” (Jon Meacham) biography of civil rights leader John Lewis, celebrated as “the conscience of Congress,” through a narrative that weaves together exclusive interviews, never-before-seen FBI files, and documents, offering profound insights into his significant role in American history and the civil rights movement.
Born into poverty in rural Alabama, John Lewis rose to prominence in the civil rights movement, becoming second only to Martin Luther King, Jr. in his contributions. As a Freedom Rider, he played a crucial role in integrating bus stations across the South. Lewis was a prominent leader in the Nashville sit-in movement and delivered a historic speech at the 1963 March on Washington. As the youngest speaker and chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he transformed it into a major civil rights organization. His legacy endures through the harrowing events at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where he survived a brutal beating on “Bloody Sunday.”
David Greenberg’s “authoritative…definitive biography” (David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize–winning author) follows Lewis’s journey beyond the civil rights era, highlighting his leadership in the Voter Education Project, where he helped enroll millions of African American voters across the South. This book uncovers the little-known story of his ascent in politics, first locally in Atlanta and then as a respected member of Congress. As part of the Democratic leadership, Lewis was admired on both sides of the aisle for his unwavering dedication to nonviolent integration and justice.
Rich with new insights, Greenberg’s work captures John Lewis’s influential career through documents from numerous archives, interviews with 275 people who knew him, and rare footage of Lewis speaking from his hospital bed after Selma. John Lewis offers unparalleled details about his personal and professional relationships and stands as the definitive biography of a man whose heroism during the civil rights movement paved the way for a new era of freedom in America.
About The Author
Credit: © ROBERT GREENBERG
David Greenberg is a professor of history and of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University and a frequent commentator on historical and political affairs. He is the author or editor of several books on American history and politics including Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image and Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency. Formerly acting editor of The New Republic and then a columnist for Slate, Greenberg now writes regularly for Politico, Liberties, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. His work has also been featured in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous academic journals. In support of this book, Greenberg won awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, and the Leon Levy Center for Biography. He holds a PhD in history from Columbia University and a BA from Yale and lives with his family in Manhattan.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (October 8, 2024)
- Length: 704 pages
- ISBN13: 9781982142995
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Raves and Reviews
"This biography sets a new standard by giving Lewis's post-civil rights story the depth of attention it deserves—and showing how our mild mannered seminarian submerged his pacifist tendencies enough to succeed in the bare-knuckled world of electoral politics."—New York Times Book Review
“Riveting”—Associated Press
“An exemplary life, and an exemplary biography that will rekindle readers’ commitment to racial justice.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Masterful”—Washington Independent Review of Books
“A passionately researched and defining portrait of an American hero.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Tremendous”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“John Lewis was my friend, steadfast ally, and personal hero. I loved him and miss him very much. Every page of David Greenberg’s biography brings him back to life with rich details that reveal not only his legendary moral compass, but the pressures and practical realities he maneuvered in both protest and politics.” —President Bill Clinton
“Full of revelations and compulsively readable, this book is—at long last—the biography that the great John Lewis deserves.” —Ambassador Andrew J. Young, former mayor of Atlanta and top aide to Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Behold an American life like no other - lived from outsider protest activist to insider savvy politician with epic, spiritual consequences. From hundreds of revealing interviews and exhaustive documentary research, Greenberg captures Lewis's poetic life in lyrical prose. How dearly we need this model right now of both unsurpassed moral leadership and of the craft of biography.”—David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
“Monumental. A profoundly moving, indefatigably researched, and absorbingly written biography of one of the true heroes of the civil rights movements. Greenberg has given us a brilliantly comprehensive, thought provoking, and deeply personal history of an American hero.”—Peniel E. Joseph, author of Stokely: A Life.
“David Greenberg’s comprehensive and compelling biography of John Lewis is a landmark book— rich and sober-minded account of one of the most consequential Americans who ever lived. With his perennial commitment to American aspiration and to bearing witness to the gap between that aspiration and tragic reality, often at fundamental peril to himself, Lewis changed a nation. Greenberg’s powerful book shows us how.” —Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
"An authoritative and indeed definitive biography of a lovely and deeply-principled man who was a true American hero."—David J. Garrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross and Rising Star
“John Lewis: A Life is a book especially for these challenging times when so much of Black history is under attack. David Greenberg’s book provides the kind of in-depth history that spells out in vivid detail how obstacles are overcome via people like John and the many others chronicled in the book. A much needed roadmap to the effort John embraced—to ‘make America one.’””—Charlayne Hunter Gault, Civil Rights activist
"I knew John Lewis from earliest times. David Greenberg's brilliant biography captures all the 'Good Trouble' John wrought to save his country from itself."—David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Biography 1868-1963
"“This is the book we’ve all been awaiting. Deeply researched, beautifully written, and frequently revelatory, Greenberg’s portrait of John Lewis is as inspiring as the civil-rights hero himself." —Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life
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