
Why We Can't Wait
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Narrated by:
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J. D. Jackson
About this listen
Dr. King's best-selling account of the civil rights movement in Birmingham during the spring and summer of 1963
On April 16, 1963, as the violent events of the Birmingham campaign unfolded in the city's streets, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., composed a letter from his prison cell in response to local religious leaders' criticism of the campaign. The resulting piece of extraordinary protest writing, "Letter from Birmingham Jail", was widely circulated and published in numerous periodicals. After the conclusion of the campaign and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, King further developed the ideas introduced in the letter in Why We Can't Wait, which tells the story of African-American activism in the spring and summer of 1963. During this time, Birmingham, Alabama, was perhaps the most racially segregated city in the United States, but the campaign launched by King, Fred Shuttlesworth, and others demonstrated to the world the power of nonviolent direct action.
Often applauded as King's most incisive and eloquent book, Why We Can't Wait recounts the Birmingham campaign in vivid detail, while underscoring why 1963 was such a crucial year for the civil rights movement. Disappointed by the slow pace of school desegregation and civil rights legislation, King observed that by 1963 - during which the country celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation - Asia and Africa were "moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence but we still creep at a horse-and-buggy pace."
King examines the history of the civil rights struggle, noting tasks that future generations must accomplish to bring about full equality, and asserts that African Americans have already waited over three centuries for civil rights and that it is time to be proactive: "For years now, I have heard the word 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that 'justice too long delayed is justice denied.'"
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- Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America
- By: Joy-Ann Reid
- Narrated by: Joy-Ann Reid
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Myrlie Louise Beasley met Medgar Evers on her first day of college. They fell in love at first sight, married just one year later, and Myrlie left school to focus on their growing family. Medgar became the field secretary for the Mississippi branch of the NAACP, charged with beating back the most intractable and violent resistance to black voting rights in the country. Myrlie served as Medgar’s secretary and confidant, working hand in hand with him as they struggled against public accommodations and school segregation, lynching, violence, and sheer despair within their state’s “black belt.”
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A must read!
- By Kenny Cook on 02-11-24
By: Joy-Ann Reid
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An African American and Latinx History of the United States
- By: Paul Ortiz
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Spanning more than 200 years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history arguing that the "Global South" was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress, and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms American history into the story of the working class organizing against imperialism.
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I had to return
- By Andrew Alvarez on 05-19-20
By: Paul Ortiz
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An Unsung Hero
- Tom Crean – Antarctic Survivor
- By: Michael Smith
- Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Tom Crean was the farmer’s son from Kerry who sailed on three major expeditions to the unknown Antarctic over a century ago. He served with both Captain Robert Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton, spent longer on the ice than either and outlived them both. But Tom Crean returned to Ireland and never spoke about his exploits, taking his incredible story to the grave - until the publication of An Unsung Hero, which unearthed his story and saw him rightfully placed amongst the annals of the great explorers.
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Not much new here
- By Lucy D on 06-21-23
By: Michael Smith
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What Have We Here?
- Portraits of a Life
- By: Billy Dee Williams
- Narrated by: Billy Dee Williams
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Billy Dee Williams was born in Harlem in 1937 and grew up in a household of love and sophistication. As a young boy, he made his stage debut working with Lotte Lenya in an Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill production where Williams ended up feeding Lenya her lines. He studied painting, first at the High School of Music and Art, with fellow student Diahann Carroll, and then at the National Academy of Fine Art, before setting out to pursue acting with Herbert Berghoff, Stella Adler, and Sidney Poitier.
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Great book
- By Paula Odume on 02-21-24
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A Light in the Dark
- A History of Movie Directors
- By: David Thomson
- Narrated by: David Thomson
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Directors operate behind the scenes managing actors, establishing a cohesive creative vision, at times literally guiding our eyes with the eye of the camera. But we are often so dazzled by the visions onscreen that it is easy to forget the individual who is off-screen orchestrating the entire production - to say nothing of their having marshaled a script, a studio, and other people's money. David Thomson, in his usual brilliantly insightful way, shines a light on the visionary directors who have shaped modern cinema and, through their work, studies the very nature of film direction.
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Thought provoking read on great filmmakers
- By Boxing Fan on 06-17-23
By: David Thomson
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Veritas
- A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife
- By: Ariel Sabar
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2012, Dr. Karen King, a star religion professor at Harvard, announced a breathtaking discovery just steps from the Vatican: she’d found an ancient scrap of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene “my wife”. The mysterious manuscript, which King provocatively titled “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife”, had the power to topple the Roman Catholic Church. It threatened not just the all-male priesthood, but centuries of sacred teachings on marriage, sex, and women’s leadership, much of it premised on the hallowed tradition of a celibate Jesus.
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Wow
- By Dorothy on 08-23-20
By: Ariel Sabar
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The Rasputin File
- By: Edvard Radzinsky, Judson Rosengrant - translator
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 22 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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For almost a century, historians could only speculate about the role Grigory Rasputin played in the downfall of tsarist Russia. But in 1995 a lost file from the state archives turned up, a file that contained the complete interrogations of Rasputin's inner circle. With this extensive and explicit amplification of the historical record, Edvard Radzinsky has written a definitive biography, reconstructing in full the fascinating life of an improbable holy man who changed the course of Russian history.
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Good old Radzinsky
- By Babs on 03-13-18
By: Edvard Radzinsky, and others
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The Confidence Men
- How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History
- By: Margalit Fox
- Narrated by: Richard Elfyn
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Imprisoned in a remote Turkish POW camp during World War I, having survived a two-month forced march and a terrifying shootout in the desert, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, join forces to bamboozle their iron-fisted captors. To stave off despair and boredom, Jones takes a handmade Ouija board and fakes elaborate séances for his fellow prisoners. Word gets around, and one day, an Ottoman official approaches Jones with a query: Could Jones contact the spirit world to find a vast treasure rumored to be buried nearby?
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home run as usual
- By thaichicken on 01-17-23
By: Margalit Fox
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Coach Prime
- Deion Sanders and the Making of Men
- By: Jean-Jacques Taylor
- Narrated by: Korey Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Known for decades as one of the NFL’s most iconic and spectacular playmakers, Deion Sanders remains college football's most intriguing newsmaker. In just three years, he has become the most talked about coach by recruiting elite players to moribund programs and reviving the spirit and pride of forgotten fanbases by winning. Along the way, he’s changing how we think about college sports while rejuvenating whole communities with the national attention that follows him and the fresh commerce a winning culture ignites.
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I BELIEVE!!!
- By Casey on 03-08-24
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Not "A Nation of Immigrants"
- Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion
- By: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Whether in political debates or discussions about immigration around the kitchen table, many Americans, regardless of party affiliation, will say proudly that we are a nation of immigrants. In this bold new book, historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz asserts this ideology is harmful and dishonest because it serves to mask and diminish the US’s history of settler colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and structural inequality, all of which we still grapple with today.
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Great if you can bear the narration
- By Tintin on 09-13-21
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Reagan
- The Life
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 31 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential president of the 20th century. Reagan took office at a time when the public sector, after a half century of New Deal liberalism, was widely perceived as bloated and inefficient, an impediment to personal liberty.
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Very little about Reagan
- By Jack Merritt on 07-30-15
By: H. W. Brands
What listeners say about Why We Can't Wait
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- KR
- 06-22-20
Must Read
The words of Dr. MLK are so powerful and thought provoking. This should be required reading for all!
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- Philip Childs
- 03-20-24
Wow
This was ana amazing book and MLK Jr. was an amazing writer and really encapsulated the movement at that time.
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- Bryan Moore
- 02-16-21
a great historical read worthy of new attention
I wanted to go back to the beginning of the modern civil rights movement. We as a country have created new sanctioned forms of discrimination and cancellation, too, so it's worth a refresher to understand and persevere with patience and nonviolent insistence.
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- Green mama
- 02-20-20
A prophet of our times!
Everyone must read these words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A true prophetic voice. We need to take up the belief once again of non violent, direct action.
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- Samuel Wicoff
- 06-28-20
Relevant for all
MLK is the most celebrated American civil rights activist for many reasons, and this book largely explains why. He preaches non-violence as the most effective tool to drive social justice movements in America and in the world. The history of the Civil Rights movement in America is eloquently presented by MLK, who is lyrically masterful at conveying many sides of the complexity of racism in America. Further, the narrator tells the story beautifully. Especially given the tumultuous racial issues currently happening (especially since the George Floyd incident and more), this is a must read book for everyone, especially those looking to affect change.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jamal R. Felton
- 04-07-20
Insightful
A detailed look behind the curtain and an elaboration of the context of a time we all have heard about but scarcely understand.
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- wingedSentinel
- 02-14-25
A Must Read
I wish this was required reading in school. This book is still so relevant and it brought me to tears throughout. The narrator was perfect and his delivery was exceptional. <3
Highly recommend!
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- Lorna
- 02-12-25
An Important Past Remembered
I appreciated receiving the details behind the history. I am forever grateful for the courage and commitment to the people and the principles.
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- Miguel Concha
- 02-02-21
Incredible
I’m 35 years old and learnt that I’ve never listened to any of MLK’s speeches in full context nor read much about him. I also grieve that his legacy isn’t taught in schools. As a teenager I don’t think I was in the space to pay much attention. But now as I am paying more attention to the world, notably this nations horrific history, it would have been nice to point to MLK and everyone who’s attending public education know the incredible work and sacrifices he made. The words he has for this time is priceless and precious.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Otis
- 03-09-24
Great material
As one read through this material, you can since the urgency or the call to action or the “time is now” mindset. This book speaks on the struggles of the movement for civil rights and racial injustices that plague ethnic minority groups in America. The book is a great read but the chapter entitled the Letter from a Birmingham Jail alone is worth the read. Recommended.
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