Read 'Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year' by Tavis Smiley

Read 'Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year' by Tavis Smiley
UNITED STATES - APRIL 15: At United Nations Plaza, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told an estimated 125,000 peace marchers that the United States should end the bombing of North Vietnam. The discontent which many Americans feel about the war in Vietnam was visible in New York where an estimated 125,00 peace advocates gathered, and in San Francisco, where between 20,000 and 40,000 marched. In his address to New York demonstrators the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called on the United States to 'honor its word' and 'stop the bombing of North Vietnam.'He also urged student to organize communities against the war. (Photo By John Littlewood/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - APRIL 15: At United Nations Plaza, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told an estimated 125,000 peace marchers that the United States should end the bombing of North Vietnam. The discontent which many Americans feel about the war in Vietnam was visible in New York where an estimated 125,00 peace advocates gathered, and in San Francisco, where between 20,000 and 40,000 marched. In his address to New York demonstrators the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called on the United States to 'honor its word' and 'stop the bombing of North Vietnam.'He also urged student to organize communities against the war. (Photo By John Littlewood/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)

Watch Tavis Smiley on Democracy Now! Thursday, and read the introduction and first chapter of his new book, Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year. In it, he examines the personal struggles of Martin Luther King Jr. during his final year, when he faced rejection by the press, the president, and much of the country’s black middle class and militants, after he spoke out against the Vietnam War.

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