I'm constantly astonished when I read about the civil rights movement about how much they accomplished despite all the disarray and setbacks. Even as the movement was falling apart and threatened by violence in Memphis in 68, King never gave up hope or his belief in non-violence. I believe that is what sustained him and the movement. How much more would have been accomplished if Johnson had not been distracted and obsessed with the Vietnam war or King had not been hounded by Hoover and the FBI or, for that matter, if King had not been assassinated? This book, in fact the whole trilogy, is eye-opening and makes you wonder about what it will take to move this country forward from this point in the area of civil rights. I almost wish there was a sequel on what happened to the civil rights movement after King's death. In some ways the book falls into the single man theory of history, that individuals make an enormous difference in the course of history, and there is no question that King did make an enormous contribution, but the movement is bigger than one individual. Even though we don't have an MLK today showing us the way, we have plenty of new civil rights leaders and many old ones (like John Lewis) still fighting against discrimination. And we have new civil rights issues and fights like for LGBT rights, transgender rights, etc. And the fight for the poor and against poverty in this country still has a long way to go. Reading this trilogy has helped encourage me in that fight.