I really enjoyed the book if one can use the word for something so tragic. It answered alot of questions, though the big ones of motive and whether or not Ray acted completely alone still seemed up in the air. ( )

Quite good history of the search for James Earl Ray. The author claims he used the techniques of a novelist without his license, as described by Shelby Foote. In a discussion of the FBI's decision to concentrate on reviewing fingerprints from convicts instead of their larger file, the author says that this reduced their work by "several orders of magnitude", but the reduction was from 53,000 to 1,900, clearly a reduction of a single order of magnitude. ( )

I thought this was an excellent portrail of the assassination of Martin Luther King, and the tracking down of his murderer, James Earl Ray. Aside from knowing the names of those two individuals involved, I knew little of the story behind the stalking and shooting of MLK in Memphis, and how Ray was tracked down by the FBI, the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, and Scotland Yard. A surprising aside in the book was the somewhat shameful behavior of Jesse Jackson after the shooting and his bending of the facts for personal gain. The book was filled with details and facts of James Earl Ray's life just before and just after the shooting, showing painstaking research by Mr. Sides. The book reminded me of Swanson's book "Manhunt" which covers the tracking of John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of President Lincoln. ( )

One of the best researched books I have ever read. I will definitely read more by this author. The book reads like a "thriller", and I love the way he tells both sides of the story. From the point of view of Martin Luther King Jr, and from James Earl Ray. One of the best history lessons I have ever had! ( )

How ironic that the very systemic and societal issues which led to the dysfunction of the Ray family were the same issues that Dr. King was addressing: through the Poor People's March. How ironic and how sad that economic issues have been so obfuscated and confounded with invented racial issues that the very people who should be cooperating to end oppression for all, instead compete, even become violent, perpetuating the cycle. Dr. King, as the author points out, was working to help families exactly like the poor family of the man who killed him. Talk about voting against your own interests, and with a gun, no less. Dr. King's call for a Basic Income, housing for all, and a revamping of our economic system would have and still will benefit every last person on earth: the poor, by bringing up the floor of poverty to a living consistent with human dignity, and the rich by preventing another inevitable turning of the tables so often seen in history, from the Helot Rebellion to the storming of the Bastille. This book is nearly a novel, written in a shifting third person style that is highly engaging, while also using just enough omniscient narrative reminders of the evidence and sources to remind the reader that this is, in fact, real. And still relevant. Please read this book, and then read the Commission report, and then, write your reps!

(Note added March 10th, 12019: An excellent companion book to this one is Separate and Unequal, by Steven M. Gillon: Separate and Unequal: The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism, [b:Separate and Unequal: The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism|35604797|Separate and Unequal The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism|Steven M. Gillon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516000230s/35604797.jpg|57042386] which I am reading now...)

Let's #EndPoverty & #EndMoneyBail by improving these four parts of our good #PublicDomainInfrastructure 4: (1. #libraries, 2. #ProBono legal aid and Education, 3. #UniversalHealthCare , and 4. good #publictransport )Read, Write, Ranked Choice Voting for ALL!!!!, Walk !

#PublicDomainInfrastructure
ShiraDest
February, 12019 HE ( )