Bearing the cross by david j. garrow - Book Report/Review Example

Later on in the book, Mr. Gurrow describes a period that he refers to as the ''mountaintop speeches”. This is the time that talks about the time when Luther had led an uprising against social segregation that was happening in the south. Most of his activities were aimed at fighting for equal rights of the Blacks in the South. In this book, Mr. Gurrow looks at the victories that this movement achieved under the leadership of King in a book titled ''Bearing the Cross.'' The book, By David J. Garrow highlights the career of Martin Luther King.

The story revolves around Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization founded by King. After reading this book that looks into the private life of King, I am able to appreciate the sadness that gripped King thereafter. In this book, David conducts countless interviews, which are very resourceful. The author is able to use the Freedom of Information Act as his defense for not submitting to entreaties from the F.B.I. the F.B.I wanted to use information from Garrow to spy on King. It is upon this fact that, in my opinion, other biographies based on the private life and career of Martin Luther King should be based.

A critical review of this book will not be complete without analyzing King’s involvement with NAACP. Scholars have argued that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is perhaps the most influential person to have fought for the rights of the blacks. King began his involvement with the Montgomery Branch of the NAACP as early back as the 1950. He is the one that led the various rallies, boycotts and marches that the NAACP organized. King was involved in these activities up until the point he was assassinated in 1968.

This book by Mr. Garrow revolves around the life and career of Martin Luther King most of which also revolves around activities at the NAACP. The book details how, the F.B.I started listening in on King’s private conversations. This they did with Robert F. Kennedy’s permission (Paula Pfeffer 78). They were looking for information that would clarify the relationship that existed between King and Stanley D. Levison. Stanley D. Levison was a lawyer who was regarded as communist by the F.B.I. Mr. Garrow presents strong evidence that point to the fact that King did not realize just how strongly Stanley D.

Levison was involved in communism even though he was a member who was “inactive”. Mr. Garrow, however, disapproves of some of the views held by a section of historians who claim that King was manipulated and managed behind-the-scenes by Stanley D. Levison. As the F.B.I. continued to monitor the movements of Levison and King, other discoveries were made that were to later impact the life of King in a greater way. The F.B.I. discovered that the two were compulsive sexual athletics who used this technique to reduce anxiety.

They also now had in their possession video tapes recordings of hotel rooms where King had stayed which King’s sexual encounters. Afterwards King began to feel like his life was in some sort of danger. He began to suffer from depression, insomnia and was preoccupied with death. Mr. Garrow depicts the final days of King’s life as one that was filled with him wishing for death. He feared that the kind of videos in the F.B.I’s possession would expose him in bad light and would lead to him losing his moral authority (Garrow 22). Mr. Arrow, however, is