Reviews

• What an amazing life! John Lewis was, in my humble opinion, the greatest Civil Rights leader in US history, bar none. He left home as a youth with nothing but the principles & ethics he learned as a sharecropper’s son, and he didn’t need much more than that. He was the personification of non-violent, passive resistance during the Civil Rights movement, never wavering from his strict moral code. When he was being approached by an army of Alabama state troopers, some of their deputies on horseback, at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge on what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday”, and he was at the front of the march, he just stood and let them knock him down. He was such an inspiration, at first as the leader of SNCC, and then as a city councilman in Atlanta, later as a Representative in the US Congress, and he always held to his ideals and strict ethical code I can think of NO better book to read to get a feeling of those who had “boots on the ground” in the struggle for Civil Rights, and what they struggled through to get where they got. All praise to Congressman John Lewis, one of this country’s greatest heroes ever!

• Love this book will read it again and again

• This is a superb book. Whilst John Lewis (currently a member of the Georgia contingent of the House of Representatives) isn't as well known as some of his contemporaries in the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s (such as Dr. Martin Luther King, A. Philip Randolph and Ralph Abernathy), his role in the struggle for equal rights for all citizens of the United States, regardless of colour of skin, cannot be underestimated. Born into obscurity in back-woods Alabama, son of two sharecroppers, the author found his voice in activism and the civil rights movement at a relatively early age. This led to his involvement with some of the key individuals in the movement, such as Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy and (fleetingly) Malcolm X. Lewis's main focus was the SNCC organisation, which was firmly on the side of non-violent action like sit-ins at food counters and getting people to register to vote. In doing this, he butted heads with some of the most unpleasant of segregationists, such as Eugene "Bull" Connor and George Wallace. I have read a large number of books on the civil rights movement over the years and this particular tome is one of the best. The chapter on the Freedom Ride from Washington DC to New Orleans is gripping and extraordinary; it leaves you out of breath at the end. It doesn't stop there, as Lewis later relates his role in the Selma to Montgomery marches and his beating at the hand of Alabama State Troopers. Despite all these negative experiences and the injuries he sustains, his passion for the movement remains undimmed and his tireless quest for the values he so firmly believes in continues unabated. The book ends the late 1990s, with the author firmly established in the House of Representatives and married with a son. It would be interesting indeed to read a revised version of this book that covered John Lewis's career up to the present day. In the intervening period, he has continued to fight for his non-violent beliefs, and it would be well worth reading his thoughts on the Iraq war and other such conflicts, as well as how he sees America today.

• I ordered this book after I heard President Obama's eulogy but wish I'd known about John Lewis sooner. I thought I knew quite a bit about the civil rights movement but I was wrong. I find I'm having trouble putting my thoughts and feelings about this book into words so I'll just say that I'm very glad that I read it, I learned a lot and I found many reasons to count my blessings while reading it. It should be required reading in schools.

• At times, very difficult to read - knowing how much has been done, but also how much remains to be done. Harrowing, heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful and inspiring.

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