Book Review: 'John Lewis: A Life' further humanizes a civil rights giant

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In “John Lewis: A Life,” David Greenberg recounts how the late Democratic congressman reacted after Republicans scored a landslide victory in the 1994 election. A staffer hoped Lewis would buoy her spirits and tell her there was a silver lining.

Lewis instead told her, “There is no silver lining.”

Exchanges like this that reveal moments of despair and vulnerability by the seemingly eternally optimistic Lewis are partly what makes Greenberg's biography of the Civil Rights icon so remarkable. It would have been easy to write a book that veers into hagiography for someone who became the nation's moral authority on civil rights and a younger generation's link to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Greenberg instead offers a more complete portrait of Lewis' evolution and his political education. Greenberg conducted hundreds of interviews for the biography, including with Lewis himself, and that work shows throughout the book.

Greenberg sketches the familiar highlights of Lewis' life, from a boy who preached to chickens on his family's farm to an activist who sustained a fractured skull when he was beaten by police during the “Bloody Sunday” march that helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

He also outlines Lewis' years in the public arena, as a member of Atlanta's city council and later as a veteran congressman revered by both Democrats and Republicans.

But the biography does an excellent job of giving readers the context of Lewis' life, including rifts between him and other giants of the movement. And it provides an inside look at how Lewis honed his political skills over time, particularly advocating for the Voting Rights Act's passage and later its reauthorization.

Greenberg also recounts how Lewis was a early and vocal ally of the gay and lesbian community, advocating for their rights when even other liberal politicians kept their distance.

Throughout the book, Greenberg further humanizes Lewis by taking readers inside his family life including his strong relationship with his wife and details on how he spent his final days before succumbing to cancer in 2020.

The poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley plays a starring role in the biography, which describes how Lewis would recite its verses as a child and would later chant them in his office. Just like that poem, Greenberg's riveting biography describes someone who was the captain of his soul.

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