MARCH 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Dan Woren brings a necessary mix of seriousness and reverence to this audiobook. Racism and race relations are particularly difficult topics to address. It is even more difficult to explain the historical implications and long-term impact of these divisions. The author attempts to provide context with an intimate, unflinchingly honest look at the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Beginning with the moments directly after his assassination, he looks at the national and international impact of King’s death from the perspectives of those who celebrated the news, those who mourned, and those who were moved to activism. This work makes important connections to the ongoing struggles we face today. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
01/29/2018
For the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights historian Sokol focuses on the murder’s aftershocks. He begins with stories of the African-Americans who venerated King, but who largely felt that his murder proved that “nonviolence is a dead philosophy,” as Floyd McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality explained in 1968. Sokol then turns his attention to white people, now champions of King but who once largely disapproved of his actions, and reminds readers of the virulence of that hatred, and the battles over even the smallest tributes to King’s memory. Sokol is an assured writer, deploying revealing, striking anecdotes, such as that of James Baldwin, who was quoted in a New York Post article saying he could never again wear the black suit he wore to King’s funeral. After reading the article, one of Baldwin’s high school friends called Baldwin up, asking about the now-extraneous suit. Baldwin gave it to him. “‘For that bloody suit was their suit.... They had created Martin, he had not created them, and the blood in which the fabric of that suit was stiffening was theirs.’” This book offers valuable yet painful insight into the paradox of King’s stature throughout history. Agent: Brettne Bloom, Kneerim & Williams. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
"Comprehensive and illuminating...As we enter the second quarter of 2018, mid-term elections, an increasing sense of divisiveness through race, economic disparities, and the looming specter of war anywhere and everywhere as a means of distraction, Sokol's The Heavens Might Crack should serve as a critical reminder of what Americans are capable of. This work is an important addition to an already impressive library of civil rights narratives and Martin Luther King biographies."—PopMatters
"This striking and complex new work looks not so much at King himself as it does at the impact of his death and how it opened a wound in the country that has yet to heal. Sokol moves from the hours and days after his death to the present day, looking at Obama's election, the Black Lives Matter movement, and NFL player Colin Kaepernick's taking a knee during the national anthem."—Boston Globe
"Revealing... Sokol mines oral histories, books and contemporaneous news stories to pull together an account that reminds us that King was a radical who ignited passions both good and bad... While [the] broad outlines of King's story are well chronicled and fairly well known, the real punch in Sokol's book comes as it drives home the depth of the animus stirred by King and how it lingered in the months and years after his assassination."—WashingtonPost
"Shines a light on the unexplored aspects of King's life and work and provides new perspectives on his rich legacy. The Heavens Might Crack is a meticulously researched work by a historian whose scholarship remains unmatched."—Washington Book Review
"Drawing on archival sources, oral histories, interviews, and local, national, and even college newspapers, Sokol offers a richly detailed analysis of the impact of King's death on blacks and whites of all stripes... A revealing examination of how a 'courageous dissident' became a martyred saint."—Kirkus Reviews
"[A] fascinating look at King's importance as a revolutionary American humanitarian and his legacy... Sokol offers a well-written, new perspective on [King's] life here that all readers interested in twentieth-century history and the story of civil rights activism will find insightfully informative."—Booklist
"Sokol is an assured writer, deploying revealing, striking anecdotes... This book offers valuable yet painful insight into the paradox of King's stature throughout history."—Publishers Weekly
"Using a wide range of sources, from college newspapers to oral histories, Sokol dramatically demonstrates that even as King was canonized, factions split and fought over his legacy to advance their own visions and agendas."—National Book Review
"[The Heavens Might Crack] places King in a balanced perspective both at home and abroad. This even-handed account helps explain the irony that King, in his day, was largely unpopular outside of African American communities yet now has become a symbol of American democracy. A highly readable volume that will appeal to a spectrum of scholars, students, and the general public interested in African American politics."—Library Journal, starred review
"Jason Sokol has done it again!... In vivid prose rooted in deep, wide-ranging research, The Heavens Might Crack is an indispensable read for all who would comprehend the past and care for our future."—Harvard Sitkoff, emeritus professor of history, University of New Hampshire
"Jason Sokol's book is not a biography of MLK, it is something more.... A most powerful book: well written, deeply researched, thoughtful, and honest."—Nick Salvatore, Cornell University
"Coming at a moment when an open racist occupies the highest office in the land and white terrorists proudly march in our streets, Sokol's book helps us understand how we got here, and how the forces of hatred and bigotry that ended King's life were never fully extinguished but remain very much with us today. A must read."—Andrew W. Kahrl, author of Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline
"The Heavens Might Crack is an important, timely, and invigorating addition to the vast literature on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By examining the evolution of King's legacy after his death with great care and deft analysis, historian Jason Sokol offers new insights into the meaning of a life that continues to shape contemporary American democracy."—Peniel E. Joseph, author of Stokely: A Life
"Jason Sokol details with aching clarity how King's assassination and the urban uprisings of April 1968 sent shock waves across the landscapes of America's racial crisis and the world's revolts.... The heavens might have cracked, but Sokol's not-too-distant mirror shimmers with intensity and the recognition of King's continued relevance to our own travails." —Thomas F. Jackson, associate professor of history, University of North Carolina
author of Stokely: A Life - Peniel E. Joseph
The Heavens Might Crack is an important, timely, and invigorating addition to the vast literature on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. By examining the evolution of King's legacy after his death with great care and deft analysis, historian Jason Sokol offers new insights into the meaning of a life that continues to shape contemporary American democracy.
American Historical Review
Just when one suspects that King scholarship reached a point of diminishing returns, along comes a book that manages to say something original. Jason Sokol's The Heavens Might Crack achieves this feat by exploring the short-term impact of King's death and the long-term struggle to define and memorialize his significance.
author of King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop - Harvard Sitkoff
Beginning with the day of King's murder, when most historical accounts of Martin Luther King end, Sokol underlines how King's death shaped our future and reveals why his assassination was far more than the death of one man. In vivid prose rooted in deep, wide-ranging research, The Heavens Might Crack is an indispensable read for all who would comprehend the past and care for our future.
Boston Globe
This striking and complex new work looks not so much at King himself as it does at the impact of his death and how it opened a wound in the country that has yet to heal. Sokol moves from the hours and days after his death to the present day, looking at Obama's election, the Black Lives Matter movement, and NFL player Colin Kaepernick's taking a knee during the national anthem.
New York Review of Books
In The Heavens Might Crack, Jason Sokol explores the differing reactions to what happened in Memphis on April 4, 1968. . . . Significantly, Sokol writes, 'white contempt for King knew no geographical bounds.' To an extent that might shock many today, large numbers of whites across the country were happy about what had happened.
Nick Salvatore
Jason Sokol's book is not a biography of MLK, it is something more: a weaving of King's life both in the hostile contemporary reactions he evoked and, fifty years later, in the mythic adoration of a dream—all the while revealing the deep racial antipathy that persists in American life. A most powerful book: well written, deeply researched, thoughtful, and honest.
Washington Post
Revealing. . . . Sokol mines oral histories, books, and contemporaneous news stories to pull together an account that reminds us that King was a radical who ignited passions both good and bad. . . . While [the] broad outlines of King's story are well chronicled and fairly well known, the real punch in Sokol's book comes as it drives home the depth of the animus stirred by King and how it lingered in the months and years after his assassination.
MARCH 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Dan Woren brings a necessary mix of seriousness and reverence to this audiobook. Racism and race relations are particularly difficult topics to address. It is even more difficult to explain the historical implications and long-term impact of these divisions. The author attempts to provide context with an intimate, unflinchingly honest look at the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Beginning with the moments directly after his assassination, he looks at the national and international impact of King’s death from the perspectives of those who celebrated the news, those who mourned, and those who were moved to activism. This work makes important connections to the ongoing struggles we face today. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-01-08
A history of the passionate responses generated by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.Five decades after his death, King stands as one of the most admired individuals of the 20th century. But when he was killed on April 4, 1968, he was a divisive figure: lauded and beloved by some; feared and reviled by many. J. Edgar Hoover called him a "degenerate," and Strom Thurmond damned him as a disruptive agitator. Drawing on archival sources, oral histories, interviews, and local, national, and even college newspapers, Sokol (History/Univ. of New Hampshire; All Eyes Are Upon Us: Race and Politics from Boston to Brooklyn, 2014, etc.) offers a richly detailed analysis of the impact of King's death on blacks and whites of all stripes. In the immediate aftermath, King's killing "intensified a debate among African Americans about the virtues of nonviolence versus armed resistance." Some joined the Black Panthers, who had gained followers even while King was alive. By the end of 1968, the group had established chapters in nearly 20 cities. Their appeal, writes the author, "was obvious: they were bold and fiery, intelligent and confrontational." The rage that fueled the Panthers also stoked racial hatred among whites, which intensified as cities erupted in looting and riots. That violence led to support for gun control laws among white Americans who wanted to keep guns out of the hands of black rioters. On college campuses, King's death inspired activism that had been focused on opposition to the Vietnam War. Suddenly, students saw the urgency of responding to issues of racial injustice. Sokol closely examines the trajectory of events at Duke University, where a weeklong silent vigil transformed both an apathetic student body and a conservative administration. International acclaim followed King's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and surged after his death, especially in developing nations. By the 1980s in the U.S., King's message had become "scrubbed" until it threatened no one.A revealing examination of how a "courageous dissident" became a martyred saint.
