Jonathan Eig won the Pulitzer Prize for King: A Life (Picador 2023), and he will be with us for a Casual Conversation on Monday, May 26 at 5 pm Eastern Time. We have classmate Bill Coulson to thank for taking the initiative to contact Mr. Eig and obtain his consent to be with us. Mr. Eig has written about significant figures in American life, with a biography about Muhammed Ali (winner of a 2018 PEN America Literary Award) and another about Lou Gehrig (winner of the Casey Award). He has also written books about Jackie Robinson’s first season in major league baseball, another about Al Capone’s capture, and, finally, about the birth of The Pill. Mr. Eig will be our second Pulitzer winner to speak with us in a Casual Conversation after Professor David I. Kertzer (for The Pope and Mussolini).
Mr. Eig’s website can be found here: https://www.jonathaneig.com/ One quote from an interview with Mr. Eig: “He also argues that, through honoring the Civil Rights activist with a holiday and through flashy quotes and merch like mugs and tees, we lose sight of the real King and his radicalism.” You should read this, and be present for the Casual Conversation, because it is very much an old-fashioned biography that takes the full measure, from before his birth to his death by an assassin’s bullet at age 39, of one of the most consequential individuals who lived during our lifetime:
To help readers better understand King’s struggle, this book seeks to recover the real man from the gray mist of hagiography. In the process of canonizing King, we’ve defanged him, replacing his complicated politics and philosophy with catchphrases that suit one ideology over another. . . . King was a man, not a saint, not a symbol.
And in providing a biography of the man, Mr. Eig establishes the context of the conflict and struggles that Dr. King lived through and become enmeshed with. Rosa Parks chooses to defy the law and not move from her seat on a segregated bus. The marchers from Selma are beaten again, and Dr. King plays a role as leader and negotiator (and compromiser) that Mr. Eig describes in careful and involving detail. Some of what Mr. Eig writes will surprise you, some enthrall you, and all of it will carry you along to a better appreciation of Dr. King and of his—and our—times.
Mr. Eig also allows himself, on occasion, to let his words sing: “King dressed his sermons in luxury, quoting from Hebrew prophets as well as the Greek philosophers.” (at 132.)
Some special pleading. Mr. Eig is spending time with us without a fee, preserving our tradition for Casual Conversations. We appreciate this and thank him. We have, I think, a moral reciprocal obligation to support Mr. Eig, an independent scholar (which means that he does not have an academic appointment to provide consistent funds for his work), by buying his book. So BUY IT! You can use the library for university press books by tenured professors. From our classmate Tex Talmadge: “ I write to endorse Arthur’s suggestion that we support independent scholars by purchasing their books.” And from classmate Nanalee Raphael: “I encourage y'all to buy books through your local independent booksellers, or the closest thing thereto.”
The life of an independent scholar is not easy. Mr. Eig writes large books about large people and does an enormous amount of research to make his books accurate as well as interesting, and to bring a new perspective on those individuals about whom we already think we have a good purchase. Writing a traditional biography that will intrigue the public and garner book sales, must be supplemented by other sources of income. Even though fewer and fewer publications publish book reviews (and pay for them), the Wall Street Journal does, and Mr. Eig was given the lead review to write several Saturdays ago: “The Last Days of Budapest Review: A Hole in Europe’s Center: The Hungarian capital’s Jewish community hoped the worst Nazi persecutions would bypass them. The terror still came.” Read the review.
The usual rules apply. Let me know if you want to attend by emailing me at arthur.fergenson@ansalaw.com . And do so by Saturday, May 24. The Zoom link will go out on Sunday, so please don’t send me an email asking whether it has been sent (until Monday, when you can pepper me with requests). Finally, we have a limited time with Mr. Eig, so we will start promptly. As the saying goes, if you are on time, you are late. Be early!
See you soon.
Arthur Fergenson