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Martin Luther King,
Jr: A Biography
In his famous "I have a dream" speech at Lincoln Memorial, he said he would not rest until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream." He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at the age of 35, making him the youngest recipient in the history of the Nobel Prize. King opposed the Vietnam war. In his speech, "Beyond Vietnam", he said the madness had to cease somehow. When he joined the issue with the civil rights movement, it fractured his national support. There was much criticism even from fellow activists over why he had to wedge the anti-war movement into their struggle. A day before a shot that took his life, King had said in a speech in Memphis: "We got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t really matter to me know, because I’ve been to the mountain top. I may not be there with you. But I know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land." He once said he may not live to be 40. When he was assassinated, he was 39. "King did not die in some foolish, untoward way. He didn’t overdose. He wasn’t shot by a jealous lover. He died helping garbage workers," said an activist. The irony is towering. King was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and adopted non-violence as a tool to win the struggle; both pacifists fell to the bullet. But then a revolution is inspired by a defiant spirit that knows no fear. Mother Teresa: A
Biography
Meg Greene says Mother Teresa defies the biographer’s art as her life is not interesting — no glamour, no great adventures, no great turning points, no cult following. Yet this ordinariness provides a starting point for the biographer. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albania in 1910, she, at the age of 12, realised her calling was to serve the "poorest of the poor". By the time she was 15, she became interested in missionary work, particularly in India, and three years later, joined the order of the Loreto Sisters. It was in 1929 that she arrived in India, never to go back. Amid difficulties, she succeeded in setting up her order—Missionaries of Charity, that was to spread across the world. She also set up Nirmal Hriday where terminally ill poor people could die in peace and dignity. She says, "In my heart, I carry the last glances of the dying. I do all I can so that they feel loved at that most important moment when seemingly useless existence can be redeemed." Even as she enjoyed universal acclaim as a living saint, there were charges of wrongdoings and cynics rejoiced that another icon had crashed. But despite the biting criticism, she persevered. According to a doctor who tried to improve the facilities at her centre, she was a "hard and extremely ruthless woman" who was little inclined towards treatment. She’s been quoted saying about a dying woman, "Well, she’s gone to God" and at another time, "Never mind. It’s a beautiful day to go to Heaven." Her application for the Nobel Peace Prize was rejected thrice before she got it in 1979. Controversies surrounded her canonisation, but for those whose lives she touched, she was already a saint. Oprah Winfrey: A
Biography
Oprah’s family was poor and her childhood was permeated with sexual assaults. She thought of her mother as a hostile parent, with no love to spare for her. Her mother bore three illegitimate babies, Oprah being one of them. At 9 years of age, Oprah was raped by a cousin and at 14, she gave birth to a baby that was not to live. The violations were a "big, loomy, dark secret" which were to come out as a public confession on a TV show, endearing her to the public. Her rise has been steady. In 1986, her show went national and she launched her magazine "O" in 2000. The year 1996 saw her get the notable honour in broadcasting, the George Foster Peabody Individual Achievement Award, and in 2002, she was the first recipient of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. Polls have listed her as one of the most admired and influential women in America who "creates markets all the time". But she has her own share of critics who see her as anti-male and pandering to mediocrity. The media and therapists have compared the self-help treatment preached on her shows as undermining real therapeutic assistance. A former employee calls her a "world-class phoney". With all her flaws, imagined or otherwise, Oprah is a picture of courage and continues to inspire women to speak up for themselves.
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MARTIN
Luther King was a preacher who was destined to lead the mammoth civil
rights movement for equal rights to Black that changed the course of
American history.
How
much can one write about the "ordinary" goodness of a
non-celebrity with simple ways like Mother Teresa?
From
a troubled, isolated childhood to being the first Black woman to have
her own studio and production company, Oprah has come a long way.