Kirkus
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The founding director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute (Stanford Univ.) reviews his own life, tells how he became involved with the publication of King's papers and charts the complicated choreography of his relationship with the King family. Carson, who has edited numerous titles related to King and 1960s civil unrest (The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1998, etc.), begins at the 1963 March on Washington when he witnessed King's "I Have a Dream" speech. The author ends with the 2011 opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, a project in which he was initially involved. In between these memorial moments are the stories of his own life--growing up in Los Alamos, moving to California, getting involved with student protests, meeting the woman he would marry, rising in academe--and of the day in 1985 when he received a call from Coretta Scott King asking if he would edit her late husband's papers. Some complicated negotiations ensued and essentially never stopped. His relationship with King's widow was complex, but with the son Dexter (and his siblings), it resembled something out of a very long Victorian novel. The relationships among the Kings were tricky, too--internecine even--and Carson treads softly on toes, even sort of siding with Dexter's contention that James Earl Ray was innocent. Carson proceeded to begin publishing King's papers and to get into print all sorts of other King-related collections. The author sometimes reveals a thin skin and cavils about his hurt feelings concerning things said or not said. A chapter about a Palestinian production of his play Passages of Martin Luther King features backstage spats and wounded egos. Compelling aspects of memoir and cultural history mixed with laments and self-defense.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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In this hybrid memoir and historical account, Carson, editor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers, records his personal journey through the turbulent civil rights movement and his changing views on its legacy. Having grown up in a suburban, mostly white community in New Mexico, Carson is swept into a growing involvement with activist groups after traveling as a teenager to witness the landmark March on Washington, where King makes his "I Have a Dream" speech. Carson's "wide-ranging curiosity" and passion for the movement lead him to a career as a historian studying the African-American story, and in particular the legacy of groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and leaders like Malcolm X. But once Carson has settled into a comfortable tenured position at Stanford, he gets a phone call that changes his life: King's widow, Coretta, asks him to become the editor of King's papers. Most of the book gets bogged down in exhaustive details about Carson's administrative scuffles with King family members over their vision for King's legacy and other, pettier, concerns. Still, Carson's testament to the universal relevance of King's ideas and the farsighted vision behind his emphasis on cooperation among people of all colors adds an insightful perspective on King's mighty accomplishments. 8-p glossy b&w photo insert. Agent: Sandra Dijkstra, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.