Audiobook Giveaway and Review #38: THE CONCISE KING

Thanks to the generous folks at
Hachette Book Group,

I have been authorized to
 give away three (3) audiobook copies of

THE CONCISE KING
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rules for entering this giveaway are at the bottom of this post.

THE CONCISE KING

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Read by Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, et al.

edited by Clayborne Carson, Peter Holloran and Kris Shepard

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Category: History

Format: Audio Book

Subformat: CD (Audio)

Edition: Abridged

Publish Date: 12/22/2009

Price: $19.98/$24.98

ISBN: 9781600248740

Pages: 0

Description (from the publisher):

For the first time, an edition of Martin Luther King's most important speeches and selected sermons are assembled and available on CD as a value-priced edition. Hachette Audio believes that the timeless message of King, in his own words and voice, are essential listening for any American and for any world citizen interested in American history, social justice, or non-violent protest. We hope to make these incredibly momentous speeches, extraordinary historical documents, accessible to an even wider population via this affordable offering.

Click here to listen to an excerpt.

MY RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars - Highly Recommended

MY THOUGHTS: I expected to be inspired by listening to this collection of King's speeches, but I wasn't prepared to be so deeply moved. It's not unusual to have heard bits and pieces of the more famous speeches; hearing a speech in its entirety is so powerful as to leave me, well, speechless!

I really enjoyed hearing the Reverend's early speeches and tracing the arc and progression of his mission. I think my favorite is one of his earliest, his sermon on Loving Your Enemies. I like that he urges us to take a hard look at ourselves before judging anyone else, to realize that everyone has some element of goodness within them, and to understand that hating "only intensifies the existance of hate and evil in the universe." He talks about how the downward spiral of hate ultimately leads to destruction for the individual as well as others and coaches us to "rise" to the level of love.  

Anything I could say would just sound trite in comparison to King's words. I can only recommend that everyone take the opportunity to listen to these speeches with an open mind and heart. It is truly a rare individual who can both humble and uplift a person. The world and our country lost a great man far before his time, but we are lucky to live in an age when his words could be recorded in his own voice. As a listener, I was inspired, empowered, and uplifted. Listening to this collection of King's speeches is a gift everyone should give to themselves.

RULES FOR ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY:

• Leave a comment on this post telling me you would like to win. Include an email address with your comment so that I can contact you if you do win. Use a spam-thwarting format such as geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com or geebee.reads [at] gmail [dot] com

• You must leave an email address in order to qualify. If I can't contact you, you can't win!

• You can earn an extra entry by being or becoming a Follower or Subscriber of this blog and telling me about it in a separate comment.

• Blog about this contest and provide me with the link to the post in a separate comment, and I'll give you yet another entry.

• Tweeting about this contest and providing me the link in a separate comment will get you one more entry. I've added a Retweet button at the bottom of every post.

• Stumble this blog, Digg it, or Technorati Fave it, whatever, and leave a separate comment for another entry.

• Winners must provide a U.S. or Canadian street address. Hachette is unable to deliver to P.O. Boxes.

• Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, January 29, 2010.

• Winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email announcing that they have won; if I don't hear from a winner, I will draw another name.

Thank you to Anna
at Hachette Book Group

for making this giveaway possible.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.