Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr. by Lerone Martin, Religious Studies and African and African American Studies

Books in brief

May 5, 2026

Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.

Cover of the book Young King with an image of MLK as a child next to a portrait of author Lerone Martin — Book cover image courtesy of Harper Collins Publishers. Image of Lerone Martin by Luna.

"We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and activism?

Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, a Nobel Laureate, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, a middling high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. Lerone A. Martin, Faculty Director of the Martin Luther King Institute at Stanford University, traces these roots to develop a fuller understanding of the influential preacher’s emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his teenage missteps, and his inspiration to fight for justice."

Martin is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of African and African American Studies. He is also the director of Stanford’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.