Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating
Review: I have always been fascinated with Dr. King as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. I love the work that Dr. Dyson did in writing this book, because he is authentic in talking about Dr. King the man - strengths, weaknesses and all - while exposing the myths about him. Being African-American, I can understand why many within our community woud want to scold Dr. Dyson for exposing Dr. King's dirty laundry. I, however, consider it not only essential, but relevant that we talk about the true humanity of our leaders (espcially one as esteemed as Dr. King) to avoid the danger of us elevating them as idols. It is a great reminder that God uses people (albeit flawed people) for magnificent works in a fallen world. This is a great book that I highly recommed!!
Rating: 
Summary: libelous work written by pseudo-intellectual
Review: I picked up this book expecting a fresh approach and analysis of Dr. King apart from the obligatory images we're force-fed each new year. Instead, I was disappointed to find that Eric Dyson made heavy use of speculation with the intent to scandalize more than to inform and enlighten. One such example includes Dyson conveying the idea that Dr. King may have engaged in orgies with many different women along with his right-hand man Ralph Abernathy. He then goes on to infer that there was talk of King and Abernathy engaging in sexual acts with each other! The author had no commentary to either support or dispel this "theory" making Dyson's retelling of the alleged incident totally irresponsible and even libelous. He just dropped the information, true or untrue, in the readers lap to do with as the reader pleased. To that end, it is my opinion that Dyson's intent in writing this book was in no way honorable or truth-seeking, rather it was a means to convey his baseless ideas to anyone who would listen. I'm reminded of something my grandmother and mother would always say to me, "an empty wagon makes the loudest noise." Eric Dyson makes a lot of noise in this book but totally lacks substance. This was an expensive tabloid.
Rating:
Summary: libelous work written by pseudo-intellectual
Review: I picked up this book expecting a fresh approach and analysis of Dr. King apart from the obligatory images we're force-fed each new year. Instead, I was disappointed to find that Eric Dyson made heavy use of speculation with the intent to scandalize more than to inform and enlighten. One such example includes Dyson conveying the idea that Dr. King may have engaged in orgies with many different women along with his right-hand man Ralph Abernathy. He then goes on to infer that there was talk of King and Abernathy engaging in sexual acts with each other! The author had no commentary to either support or dispel this "theory" making Dyson's retelling of the alleged incident totally irresponsible and even libelous. He just dropped the information, true or untrue, in the readers lap to do with as the reader pleased. To that end, it is my opinion that Dyson's intent in writing this book was in no way honorable or truth-seeking, rather it was a means to convey his baseless ideas to anyone who would listen. I'm reminded of something my grandmother and mother would always say to me, "an empty wagon makes the loudest noise." Eric Dyson makes a lot of noise in this book but totally lacks substance. This was an expensive tabloid.
Rating: 
Summary: J. Edgar Hoover knew who he was.
Review: Michael Eric Dyson is an extremely bizarre Afrocentric scholar from Columbia University whose teaching methods combine a "hip-hop delivery," with fiction and "tolerance" of non-Western culture's blatant intolerance. He's also the author of this book, "I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, jr.," which Dyson wrote with the sole intention of undermining King's famous "I have a dream speech." Dyson's motive behind this is as obvious as the reason for his place at Columbia: twist the traditional perception of King from the color-blind, fervent defender of civil rights, to a new and improved racially-conscious closet Marxist. (This really isn't that difficult a task for Dyson, given the fact that most of the people King surrounded himself with were card-carrying members of the US branch of the Communist Party. Coincidence? Read on.) This undiscovered side of King can in turn can be used to shut-up "racist" conservatives who cite the speech as evidence that King resented color-consciousness in any form. Dyson proves himself to be a halfway decent Afrocentric scholar, by going into frank detail about King's many private vices that conflict with the virtuous Man of God he was so often portrayed as by the media. Yes, Dyson admits, King was unfaithful to his wife and a casual philanderer of women (prostitutes actually). In fact, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI had surveillance tapes of the "Reverend" in a hotel-room with two prostitues the very night before his assassination. And you'd think that Dyson would "Do the Right Thing" by criticizing King as a hypocrite, which at first he does ("at first," meaning about two sentences). But alas, he doesn't. Rather, Dyson blames the pre-Johnson governments for deliberately trying to "destroy" the black family, resulting (if I'm following him correctly) in the infidelity of black males. (Actually, according to Charles Murray's "Losing Ground," the black divorce rate quickly went up after civil rights and the establishment of the welfare state. A clear case of Dyson's Afrocentric logic at work.) But anyways, it doesn't really matter, because like Dyson says, King was not-so-secretly a Communist, (which I'll get to in a minute) and the two things cancel each other out. Nine years ago, several scholars at Boston University declared that King plagiarized his doctoral dissertation, and that over 60 percent of it was copied from a previous dissertation. Dyson admits as much, but immediately cooks up a sophisticated excuse for this. He attributes King's plagiarism to a technique - sampling - that Brian Eno invented, that rappers freqently and shamelessly use today. In other words, it's part of a uniquely black tradition of taking other people's ideas and "improving" them, that's both "colorful" and "funky" and shouldn't really be scrutinized. And besides, he was a Communist (good thing), so the two things cancel each other out. Okay, the Communist part. Yes, Martin Luther King, jr privately sympathized with Communism (but strangely enough, not the people suffering from it behind the Iron Curtain). His main advisor Stanley Levinson, who edited most of King's "Stride Toward Freedom," was charged with funneling Soviet money to the US Communist party. Dyson emphasizes this King, the "real" Martin Luther King, as the model he should henceforth be acknowledged as. Based on this and this alone (and I don't doubt Dyson's thesis one bit), Dyson makes the assumption that had King survived his assassin's bullet, he'd be out there with Jesse Jackson and Henry Louis Gates, shouting "racism" at the drop of a pin while ardently beating the drum for affirmative action. Like I wrote, I don't doubt it for a minute. Dyson may command about as much respect from his fellow professors at Columbia as a vending-machine repair-man, but he's honest and I give credit where credit is due. Despite Dyson's ornate prose and unintentionally comic logic (hence, the three star rating), everything in his biography is factually correct and well worth reading. Alright, so he obviously doesn't adhere to the school of presenting things as they are, not as they should be. That flaw notwithstanding, I believe everything he plausibly extrapolates about King. Quite simply, Dyson puts forth an impressive case. He won me over.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding! Insightful! A surprisingly quick read.
Review: Mr. Dyson does an outstanding job of deeply analyzing the myths of MLKJr. No book I've read provides the kind of objective insights into the framework of black/white race relations. This would almost be a dry academic study of the topic if Mr. Dyson's writing wasn't so passionate and lively. A GREAT!
Rating:
Summary: whoa
Review: Much is made of dyson's intellectual prowess; this just goes to show you that all things are relative. There are organisms shuffling down the street to whom dyson's intellect would, one assumes, seem impressive. But that don't necessarily make it so. You may, at some point, have heard the term pinhead. The term signifies that the owner of such a head has a tiny little brain, a "peabrain" if you will. This, in a nutshell, is dyson. He meanders around offering weak commentary and observation that appeals chiefly to the MTV and BET crowd. This is to say, he offers nothing of value other than allowing Penn to make their quota. Do yourself a favor and avoid at all costs.
Rating:
Summary: Good research, but hard to take seriously
Review: Rev. Dyson dissects the great black man of the last century and attempts to get some insight into how his image translates to modern America. I found the chapter concerning Dr. King's embrace of democratic socialism to be enlightening, but I found the Rev. Dyson handing out alibis for King's adultery disappointing. Equally mind blowing is Dyson's using overblown language to assail the King family's efforts to control their loved one's image. I wonder why there are hard feelings, since Dexter and Coretta King talked to him for this book. This is an interesting character study that does draw some modern parallels, but would have been better if it were about 3 chapters shorter.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is too fat
Review: Rev. Dyson dissects the great black man of the last century and attempts to get some insight into how his image translates to modern America. I found the chapter concerning Dr. King's embrace of democratic socialism to be enlightening, but I found the Rev. Dyson handing out alibis for King's adultery disappointing. Equally mind blowing is Dyson's using overblown language to assail the King family's efforts to control their loved one's image. I wonder why there are hard feelings, since Dexter and Coretta King talked to him for this book. This is an interesting character study that does draw some modern parallels, but would have been better if it were about 3 chapters shorter.
Rating: 
Summary: great book meanders toward the end
Review: this a great read, dr. dyson rescues dr. king from from the neo-cons and presents the man who with his flaws his probaly the living embodiment in action and deed of what america could have been. the book kinda falls flat in the last thrid but it holds up well.
Rating:
Summary: be ready for analysis, not simply historical biography
Review: This book was not what I expected, but enjoyed regardless. I particularly liked his idea of banning the 'I Have a Dream' speech from public media. The stories about his philandering were a bit shocking to me, but I have never read any biography of King before, so I wasn't prepared. The ocassional tangents might irk some, but understand Dyson has to take some risks and expand on ideas to make the book worth his time. Realize the civil right movement is not over. Dialogue needs to continue in written forms such as this book to make progress.
- logan square yuppie
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