Growing Up King: An Intimate Memoir

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Dexter King, who would grow up to eerily resemble his legendary father, MLK, Jr., and display some of the same eloquence, was seven years old when an assassin's bullet took his father's life. The bond between father and son was a close one. For years afterward, Dexter was haunted by a memory of himself and his dad riding their bikes through Atlanta's streets, and by his father's full-throated laugh as he romped with the King children. Dexter tried to find courage in his father's example of selfless heroism, but as his shattered childhood ripened into adolescence, the weight of "the King legacy" pressed down ever more heavily. Kept at arms-length by schoolchildren who weren't sure what to make of the son of a secular saint, afflicted with undiagnosed ADD, and shell-shocked further by the assassination of his grandmother, Dexter stumbled warily into adulthood. Ironically, the wall that separated him from potential friends and girlfriends was sometimes comforting. In distancing himself from others, he lessened the chances of loss.Only in his early 30s did he confront "the legacy" head on, and when he did, he discovered what his father was trying to tell him--and us--about what really matters. Replete with remarkable insights into what families of "fallen heroes" must contend with, as well as surprisingly intimate moments and fresh reflections on race in America, this is a truly extraordinary book.


Review: In the bestselling tradition of such family portraits as Brooke Hayward's Haywire, Christopher Dickey's Summer of Deliverance, and Margaret Salinger's Dream Catcher, this is a disarmingly candid and tear-evoking memoir by the youngest son of slain civil rights champion, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Author / Editor: King, Dexter Scott / Wiley, Ralph

Category: Biographies

ISBN: 0759570051

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