The New York Times Book Review - Patricia J. Williams
This book is distinctly Coretta's story. While there is nothing to radically challenge the impression of her as carefully restrained, what makes My Life particularly absorbing is its quiet account of a brutal historical era, as experienced by a very particular kind of African-American woman: well educated, cautious, a prototypically 1950s-style wife and mother…Though such women have rarely been given voice, they were the staunch backbone of the civil rights movement…For all the death and tragedy in My Life, it is King's grounding in her husband's theology of peaceful resistance that enables her survival against excruciating odds. Nonviolence, she reiterates, is not a matter of passively accepting whatever happens. It is active. It is a practice.
Publishers Weekly
11/28/2016
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. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
‘There is a Mrs. King. There is also Coretta. How one became detached from the other remains a mystery,’ King says. This book is distinctly Coretta’s story. . . particularly absorbing. . . .Living with terror is the threat that runs through ‘My Life’ . . . it is King's grounding in her husband's theology of peaceful resistance that enables her survival against excruciating odds.” —Patricia J. Williams, The New York Times Book Review
“This memoir shows Coretta Scott King . . . as a leader in her own right, as a dedicated pacifist, as a persistent adherent to principles of nonviolence, as a gritty fighter for her husband’s legacy, as a mother . . . . A great and inspirational read . . . .This book put steel in my spine.”—Julianne Malveaux, Pittsburgh Courier
“Eloquent . . . inspirational . . . . King’s life’s work relayed in this rich retelling, provides a possible blueprint — and a beacon.”—USA Today
“In My Life, My Love, My Legacy, legendary journalist Barbara Reynolds reveals never-before-told aspects of Mrs. King’s life . . . . We learn of the brilliant mind and courageous spirit behind the enigmatic figure.”—Essence
“The full life story of the civil rights activist and humanitarian is much more than just Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s wife. . . . It is her commitment to bettering the world that will keep her story alive in our hearts.”—Ebony.com
“The portrait that emerges here is of a woman of tremendous faith, resilience and pride . . . . By the time she died, she’d fought for a lifetime of causes.”—New York Post
“An important heroine in her own right, Coretta Scott King’s story is mesmerizing.”—Read it Forward
“This account of family, faith, and activism . . . is told so genuinely that it leaves the impression of having heard the words directly from the late activist. . . . Highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“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.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Gracious, elegant . . . . A touching memoir from an important figure in the civil rights movement.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A spiritual narrative with God as a frequent directing presence . . . . ‘In reading this memoir, I hope somehow you see Coretta,’ King confides in the introduction. One does.”—Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly’s “Notable African-American Titles”
Library Journal
01/01/2017
An autobiography of King, as told at the end of her life to writer and ordained minister Reynolds. (LJ 12/16)
MARCH 2017 - AudioFile
This audiobook should cement the idea that Coretta Scott King was herself a major civil rights leader, in addition to being married to an icon in the field. Dictated during the final year of her life, the book gives context and background to familiar events and sheds light on Coretta’s struggle to continue her husband’s work while carving out a presence of her own. Phylicia Rashad narrates the bulk of this audiobook with January LaVoy, and both do a superb job. Rashad’s insistent voice and gentle tone reflect both the strength and quiet dignity that characterized King’s life. Rashad varies her tone and intonation and pauses effectively, urging the audiobook forward and keeping it interesting and vital. The result is a reason to revisit the life of an extraordinary woman. R.I.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-11-09
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.
