To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Sacred Mission to Save America, 1955-1968.

To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Sacred Mission to Save America, 1955-1968 by Stewart Burns HarperSanFrancisco, January 2004 $27.95, ISBN 0-060-54245-4

An author offers what he considers to be another point of view on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Stewart Burns claims to have tapped into previously unheard of oral interviews and documents left out of previous biographies. To the Mountaintop is one of the latest in a torrent of books on the life of King. The book is actually three smaller books in one. The first book, "A Mighty Stream," deals with the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement. Burns grabs you into his book with his account of the reactions of King, Ralph Abernathy and the congregation when they got word during service that King's house had been bombed. In the second book, "Middle Passage, 1963-1966," burns puts you in the meetings, the jail cells, and in front of the dogs and fire hoses. The third part, "Crossing to Jerusalem, 1967-1968," deals with King's final years, when he spoke out against the Vietnam War, drawing criticism from all directions. The overall effect makes you wonder if you are reading historical fact or inventive history.

--Reviewed by Anthony C. Davis Anthony C. Davis is a writer in Philadelphia.