Coretta

November 28, 2016
Reynolds (Out of Hell and Living Well), an ordained minister who was a confidante of Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) since 1975, has produced from their many conversations together a posthumous memoir largely focused on King’s public life. There are few intimate glimpses, although a wife and mother’s anxieties come through strongly, as they did in King’s 1969 memoir, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. The present work includes an array of afterwords (from her daughter Bernice, Maya Angelou, and others) and Reynolds’s postscript, “The Making of Her Memoir.” It begins by revisiting King’s life story and her part in historical events from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to her husband’s assassination. The book’s latter part traces King’s political activism and spiritual commitment since Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, and the roles of their children, Yolanda, Bernice, Martin III, and Dexter, in sustaining his legacy. Overall, though some political disagreements are mentioned, this is a spiritual narrative with God as a frequent directing presence. Readers for whom the Civil Rights Movement is ancient history may get a lot out of Reynolds’s rendering of King’s account. As oral history, aspects will interest academic historians. “In reading this memoir, I hope somehow you see Coretta,” King confides in her introduction. One does, but without the vibrancy, immediacy, and clarity one might hope for.

November 15, 2016
A posthumous memoir by Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow, told via a journalist, minister, and longtime friend.In an afterward, Reynolds, a journalist and friend to Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) and a former USA Today editorial board member, offers the "making of her memoir," which required many recorded interviews since her first article about King for the Chicago Tribune in 1975, with their formal contract signed in 1997. Overall, the tone is as gracious, elegant, and soft-spoken as the legendary Southern lady and concert singer, who was born in the deeply segregated town of Heiberger, Alabama, where her black family was regularly terrorized by whites, including the burning of her house when she was 15 years old. Resilient and fearless due to the example of her harassed father, King was inculcated in the Mount Tabor AME Zion church, where her grandfathers were leaders. Attending the Lincoln missionary school, she found her "escape route" from the South in multicultural Antioch College (Ohio), then followed her passion for classical music to the New England Conservatory, in Boston, where she met the "too short" and unprepossessing minister from Atlanta, MLK Jr. Coretta wanted to be a concert singer and live comfortably in the North, while Martin wanted her to be his wife and have children and move to Montgomery to fight desegregation with nonviolence. Eventually, she came around to embrace his ideals. While her memoir is very much her own journey, it is also about her collaboration with her husband, and she insists they both had a calling by God: "God appeared to have appointed Martin and me...to become the messengers." The author does not countenance rumors that her husband was unfaithful, insisting that the FBI planted evidence as a smear campaign. In the end, her four children and her "fifth child," the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, in Atlanta, remain her greatest legacies.A touching memoir from an important figure in the civil rights movement.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from December 15, 2016
King and journalist Reynolds met in 1975, forming a firm friendship during which Reynolds interviewed the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. many times. Eventually, their conversations coalesced into a formal agreement for Reynolds to assist the civil rights icon in writing a first-person memoir. The result is wholly focused on King's life and contains intimate thoughts about her childhood, marriage, and professional aspirations. King is remarkably candid as she addresses rumors of her husband's infidelity, her frustrations with the often sexist attitudes of the movement's leaders, and the immense pressure she felt standing at the center of history. King also shares her struggle to balance the needs of her family with her own often overlooked music career. ( I love being your wife and the mother of your children, she recounts telling Martin. But if that's all I am to do, I'll go crazy. ) King was undoubtedly a singular woman, and readers will be struck by just how strongly her exceedingly compelling story resonates today. She was much more than just the woman behind the man, and now, in the most eloquent of language, she proves that truth once and for all to generations of readers who will embrace her all over again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2016

At the end of her life, King disclosed her full story to a close friend, Dr. Barbara Reynolds, an ordained minister and journalist who was on USA Today's founding editorial team. The narrative emphasizes King's early scholarly endeavors and feminist beliefs and shows how she challenged the era's all-male African American leadership after her husband's death.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017

An autobiography of King, as told at the end of her life to writer and ordained minister Reynolds. (LJ 12/16)

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2016

Following the 1969 publication of My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., this autobiography shines a light on the devotion and determination of civil and human rights activist King (1927-2006). As told to close friend Reynolds (Out of Hell & Living Well), King relays her time picking cotton as a child during the Great Depression, her education at Antioch College and the New England Conservatory of Music, her marriage to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and her efforts to create nonviolent social change before and after the death of her husband. This account of family, faith, and activism is most successful in showcasing King's lifelong struggles and is told so genuinely that it leaves the impression of having heard the words directly from the late activist. Memories recounted throughout offer a glimpse into the everyday lives of the King family, from eating dinner together to responding after an attack on their home, providing a complete picture of Coretta's impact. VERDICT Highly recommended for all collections, this may be of particular interest to those attracted to political and social movements as well as those interested in American history.--Mattie Cook, Lake Odessa Community Lib., MI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2016

Following the 1969 publication of My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., this autobiography shines a light on the devotion and determination of civil and human rights activist King (1927-2006). As told to close friend Reynolds (Out of Hell & Living Well), King relays her time picking cotton as a child during the Great Depression, her education at Antioch College and the New England Conservatory of Music, her marriage to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and her efforts to create nonviolent social change before and after the death of her husband. This account of family, faith, and activism is most successful in showcasing King's lifelong struggles and is told so genuinely that it leaves the impression of having heard the words directly from the late activist. Memories recounted throughout offer a glimpse into the everyday lives of the King family, from eating dinner together to responding after an attack on their home, providing a complete picture of Coretta's impact. VERDICT Highly recommended for all collections, this may be of particular interest to those attracted to political and social movements as well as those interested in American history.--Mattie Cook, Lake Odessa Community Lib., MI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.