Gandhi's wisdom and strategies have been employed by many popular movements. Martin Luther King Jr. adopted them and changed the course of history of the United States. This book reviews major twentieth-century nonviolent theorists and their struggles.

The lives and work of Mohandis Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have much to teach us about nonviolent resistance to oppression. This book presents a comparative analysis of their legacies that demonstrates how powerful peace and love can be, even in the face of hate-filled oppression, aggression, and violence. No two individuals had a greater impact on the 20th century's monumental struggles for freedom, justice, and peace. Gandhi showed the world that steadfastly and nonviolently adhering to the truth gave the world a practical alternative to the madness of war and violence. King used nonviolence to realize his dream of a beloved community and to beckon his white countrymen to live up to the lofty ideals bequeathed to them by America's founders. The two men came from widely divergent cultural, religious, economic, and political backgrounds and settings, yet they both wielded nonviolent weapons effectively. This comparison not only demonstrates the broad applicability of nonviolent principles; it also highlights the importance of merging high ideals with a practical program that produces positive results in people's lives.

"The literature on Gandhi and Martin Luther King is vast, and scholars often speak of the two leaders when discussing theories of non-violence. Yet, no attempt has yet been made to understand the way in which Gandhi and King's socio-political ideas converge in terms of their origins, development and application. In Confluence of Thought, Bidyut Chakrabarty argues that there is a confluence of thought between Gandhi and King's concerns for humanity and advocacy of non-violence, despite their different historical and socio-economic contexts. He says that these two figures are perhaps the best modern historical examples of individuals who combined religion with the political to produce a dynamic social ideology. Gandhi saw service to humanity as the path to 'self-actualization' and thus spiritually most fulfilling; similarly, King pursued religion-driven social action. Chakrabarty looks particularly at the way in which each deployed religious and political language to draw the widest possible membership to their social movements. While Chakrabarty points out that neither thinker was able to fulfill his chosen mission, both suffering death by assassination, he positions the two as the premier modern influences on theories of non-violence today"--

Dennis Dalton's classic account of Gandhi's political and intellectual development focuses on the leader's two signal triumphs: the civil disobedience movement (or salt satyagraha) of 1930 and the Calcutta fast of 1947. Dalton clearly demonstrates how Gandhi's lifelong career in national politics gave him the opportunity to develop and refine his ideals. He then concludes with a comparison of Gandhi's methods and the strategies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, drawing a fascinating juxtaposition that enriches the biography of all three figures and asserts Gandhi's relevance to the study of race and political leadership in America. Dalton situates Gandhi within the "clash of civilizations" debate, identifying the implications of his work on continuing nonviolent protests. He also extensively reviews Gandhian studies and adds a detailed chronology of events in Gandhi's life.

MLK’s classic account of the first successful large-scale act of nonviolent resistance in America: the Montgomery bus boycott. A young Dr. King wrote Stride Toward Freedom just 2 years after the successful completion of the boycott. In his memoir about the event, he tells the stories that informed his radical political thinking before, during, and after the boycott—from first witnessing economic injustice as a teenager and watching his parents experience discrimination to his decision to begin working with the NAACP. Throughout, he demonstrates how activism and leadership can come from any experience at any age. Comprehensive and intimate, Stride Toward Freedom emphasizes the collective nature of the movement and includes King’s experiences learning from other activists working on the boycott, including Mrs. Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin. It traces the phenomenal journey of a community and shows how the 28-year-old Dr. King, with his conviction for equality and nonviolence, helped transform the nation and the world. This book was published with two different covers. Customers will be shipped one of them at random.

The Power of Nonviolence, written by Richard Bartlett Gregg in 1934 and revised in 1944 and 1959, is the most important and influential theory of principled or integral nonviolence published in the twentieth century. Drawing on Gandhi's ideas and practice, Gregg explains in detail how the organized power of nonviolence (power-with) exercised against violent opponents can bring about small and large transformative social change and provide an effective substitute for war. This edition includes a major introduction by political theorist, James Tully, situating the text in its contexts from 1934 to 1959, and showing its great relevance today. The text is the definitive 1959 edition with a foreword by Martin Luther King, Jr. It includes forewords from earlier editions, the chapter on class struggle and nonviolent resistance from 1934, a crucial excerpt from a 1929 preliminary study, a biography and bibliography of Gregg, and a bibliography of recent work on nonviolence.

"A look at the lives of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and how they were led to seek revolution through peace"--