APOPHASIS or King: A life

APOPHASIS is a rhetorical technique of talking about something by denying it or saying you are not going to talk about it. For example, Ronald Reagan, in debating Walter Mondale in 1984 avoided acknowledging his age and the idea that he might no longer be fit to serve as president by saying,

"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

In this brief post, I would like to talk about a book I have not read: King: A life by Jonathan Eig. 

I was quite interested in reading this book which I have on my kindle after I heard the author interviewed on the New York Times Book Review Podcast. This book is the first major biography about King in decades.

I have previously read Eig's excellent biography of Ali and I am excited to see what Eig is able to do with another major figure in post WW II American history.

I also feel like I have been moving toward reading Eig's King book for some time because of other recent reading.

This reading includes Beverly Gage's wonderful biography of J. Edgar Hoover where I learned quite a bit about Hoover's attitude toward law and order -- and how deeply respected Hoover was throughout Washington for most of his career -- but how he saw King as a possible messianic figure who could unite people and threaten the established white Christian order in America.

I also read Les and Tamara Payne's great recent book about Malcolm X which manages to dive quite deep into the historical record to show that some of the things that people believed about Malcolm were simply not true.

But I am sad to report that I am going to have to wait before reading Eig's book. I am currently finishing Delany's long Dhalgren and that I am committed to reading Zuckerman Bound next for a discussion with a reading buddy.

So, to bring the topic back to APOPHASIS, I am unable to say much about Eig's new biography of Martin Luther King because I have not read it. But I expect to in the future.