Chasing King's Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassin

James L. Swanson

Jan 2018 · Scholastic Inc.

About this ebook

An astonishing account of the assassination of America's most beloved and celebrated civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, by New York Times–bestselling author, James L. Swanson.

NAACP Image Award Nominee
Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year*

"[James L. Swanson's] masterful work . . . reveals, in gripping style, how one individual can impact history." —Booklist, starred review

In his meteoric, thirteen-year rise to fame, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a mass movement for Civil Rights—with his relentless peaceful, non-violent protests, public demonstrations, and eloquent speeches. But as violent threats cast a dark shadow over Dr. King's life, Swanson hones in on James Earl Ray, a bizarre, racist, prison escapee who tragically ends King's life.

As he did in his bestselling Scholastic MG/YA books Chasing LIncoln's Killer and "THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN SHOT!", Swanson transports readers back to one of the most shocking, sad, and terrifying events in American history.

More than eighty photographs, captions, bibliography, various source notes, and index included.

About the author

An astonishing account of the murder of America’s most beloved civil rights leader and the search for his killer, by a New York Times–bestselling author.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., stepped onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. What happened next—a man in a window, a rifle, and a single shot—was one of the most horrific and tragic events of the twentieth century.

But this book is about more than a murder. It is the story of two men set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s—a decade of assassinations, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and the race to the moon. It is the story of King’s heroic life, his tumultuous last year, and his fateful trip to Memphis. But it is also the story of a mysterious, lifelong criminal—James Earl Ray—whose 1967 escape from prison sent him on a strange, year-long journey that unexpectedly climaxed with King’s murder and one of the biggest manhunts in American history.

In an action-packed, minute-by-minute, ticking-clock narrative, James L. Swanson, award-winning New York Times–bestselling author of Manhunt, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, and “The President Has Been Shot”: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, weaves together riveting stories of the assassin and the civil rights leader as he transports readers back to one of the most shocking, sad, and frightening days in American history.

Praise for Chasing King’s Killer

Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year

Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year

Texas Topaz Reading List Top Ten Title for Nonfiction

 “Page-turning nonfiction that captures the tenor of the times with meticulous research and a trove of photographs. Exhaustive, exemplary backmatter further enhances the text. An important contribution to the understanding of a complex period in United States history that still reverberates today.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

 “[Swanson's] masterful work . . . takes on thriller pacing . . . This immersive history reveals, in gripping style, how one individual can impact history.” —Booklist, starred review

 “An absorbing chronicle of the lead-up to and aftermath of the assassination of an American leader . . . Riveting.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review