Every year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is celebrated as one of the greatest orators in US history, an ambassador for nonviolence who became perhaps the most recognizable leader of the civil rights movement. But after more than forty years, few people appreciate how truly radical he was. Arranged thematically in four parts, The Radical King includes twenty-three selections, curated and introduced by Dr. Cornel West, that illustrate King's revolutionary vision, underscoring his identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, and his crusade against global imperialism. As West writes, "Although much of America did not know the radical King--and too few know today--the FBI and US government did. They called him 'the most dangerous man in America.' This book unearths a radical King that we can no longer sanitize."

Part I. Radical love -- The violence of desperate men -- Palm Sunday sermon on Mohandas K.Gandhi -- Pilgrimage to nonviolence -- Loving your enemies -- What is your life's blueprint? -- Part II. Prophetic vision-global analysis and local praxis -- The world house -- All the great religions of the world -- My Jewish brother -- The Middle East question -- Let my people go -- Honoring Dr. Du Bois -- Part III. The revolution of nonviolent resistance: against empire and White supremacy -- Letter from Birmingham Jail -- Nonviolence and social change -- My talk with Ben Bella -- Nehru, a leader in the long anti-colonial struggle -- Where do we go from here -- Black power -- Beyond Vietnam: a time to break silence -- Part IV. Overcoming the tyranny of poverty and hatred -- The bravest man I ever met -- The other America -- All labor has dignity -- The drum major instinct -- I've been to the mountaintop.