Burial for a King: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Funeral and the Week That Transformed Atlanta and Rocked the Nation

After King was shot in Memphis on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in cities across the country, and more soldiers and National Guard troops had to be deployed on U.S. soil than at any time since the Civil War. Yet Atlanta, preparing to host King's funeral and thousands of visitors, remained relatively calm—a tribute to the unlikely alliance between the city's progressive mayor, police chief, student activists, business leaders, ministers, and King's inner circle. Drawing on White House transcripts, FBI records, oral histories, and her own interviews, Burns (Rage in the Gate City) recreates that week in dramatic scenes that shift from Coretta Scott King's bedroom (where much of the funeral was planned) to college campuses, churches, and the White House. Though Burns attempts to put the assassination in a broader context by tracing Atlanta's evolving record on civil rights and President Johnson's passage of the Equal Housing Law the day after King's funeral, this engrossing—but narrow—book provides an affecting blow-by-blow of events during a week of national mourning. (Jan.)