Putting to rest King plot, giving his message life A Knock at Midnight: Book Reviews Inspirations From the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. widow and four children. Edited by Clayborne Carson Now comes professional de- and Peter Halloran bunker Gerald Posner to lance Warner Books such fantasies. Combining 234 pp., $20 fresh reporting with a careful review of ,investigations, and Killing the Dream: using the common sense that is James Earl Ray a scarce commodity in this and the Assassination field, Posner does for the King of Martin Luther King, Jr. asuissination what he did for By Gerald Posner the JFK killing in his 1994 Random House book, Case Closed. 446 pp , $25 As he did with John F Ken- nedy's murder, Posner doesn't Orders to Kill: merely uphold the official ver- The Truth Behind the Murder sion of the- King killing. He of Martin Luther King, Jr. marches forward to expose the By William F. Pepper alternative theories as frauds. Warner Books Thus the story of Memphis 558 pp„ $16 (paper) rib chef Loyd lowers, who holds that the local Mafia paid him to help set up the shooting By Richard Willing and to dispose of the gun, is dis- USA TODAY cL mantled by Posner. He shows - `I -9 3 that -Towers has changed his The Rev. Martin Luther story repeatedly, has tried to King Jr., whose sermons often peddle it for money, has of- meditated on life's ironies, fered money to others to entice would have made hay out of them to support his version this one Of the three books is- and, most tellingly, could not sued in conjunction with this have helped hide the rifle after month's 30th anniversary of his the shooting as he claims. death, only one has to do with The story of "Raoul," the his life's message. mystery man Ray has long. The Other two deal with the claimed set him up to look like baroque and twisted theories the shooter, is likewise punc- that do not accept that King tured. Using the testimony of a was murdered by a lone rifle- supposed old girlfriend and a man, James Earl Ray, as he database of home telephone stood on a Memphis motel bal- numbers, conspiracists claim cony April 4, 1968. The King to have found the real Raoul, conspiracy theories, some of alive and well in upstate New which would stretch the credu- York. lity of a moron, seem destined Posner tracks him down, to outshout if not outlive King's too, and finds an elderly retir- legacy. ee, frightened and bewildered Some, such as those es- to be implicated in the deed. poused by Ray's current law- Using time cards from the yer, William F Pepper — that factory where "Raoul" once King was dispatched by a mill- worked, Posper demonstrates tary/Mafia/EBI/C1A/Cana- that he couldn't have passed dian intelligence plot guided by guns, drugs and money to Ray, President Johnson — have at- as Ray claims, in several tracted the support of King's American cities and in Canada. IBM file photo by Joseph Low/. Time/AP Assassination scene on April 4, 1988: Aides to Martin Luther King Jr. tend to their mortally wounded leader on the balcony of a Memphis motel and point out to police where they think gunfire came from. Not to mention the prepos- a good read . his death, King describes a eu- terous proposition that a man It follows the development logy for a life that he measures who orchestrated the King as- of King's ministry fitan a ser- by Matthew's yardstick. sassination would be living In mon given in 1954, when he "Tell them not to mention retirement in the USA under was 25, through one given days that I have a Nobel Peace his own name and would have before his death. Some of the Prize — that's not important," a listed phone number. references are of course dated, he says. The most interesting ques- but the message is surprisingly "I want you to be able to say tions about the King killing are fresh. King's call for "econom- that I did try to feed the hungry Ray's motive and whether he ic justice;' for instance, the is- -. clothe those who were na- had any help setting up the sue that brought him to Mem- ked ... visit those who were in shooting, which he undoubted- phis in April 1968 to support a prison. ly did himself, or In escaping. strike by sanitation workers, "1 just want to leave a com- "That James Earl Ray has clearly had its roots in his early mitted life behind!" lived 30 years after the murder sermons. Of Pepper's Orders to Kill, is persuasive evidence that But it Is as a soul journey that the less said the better. professional conspirators were King's sermons are most use- The most interesting part is not involved," Posner writes. ful. the introduction, written by "If they had been, they "In the quiet recesses of my Dexter Scott King, King's con- would have disposed of him." mind," the great civil rights spiracy-oriented son. Dexter Books of sermons or speech- leader once observed, "1 am King praises Pepper's "exhaus- es, such as A Knock at Mid- fundamentally a clergyman, a tive research" but somehow night, are a tough sell. The Baptist preacher." manages to be off by two years texts were written to be spo- Here we see him preaching in calculating his own age at ken, not read. The interaction sermons that get to the heart of the time of his father's death. of the audience, such a vital things — death and resurrec- Makes you wonder who part of any black church ser- tion, eternity, the necessity of wrote this for him, or at least mon, is impossible to recover. living a life not dependent on who proofread it. But this volume of 11 King things that come and go. That I smell a cover-up. sermons overcomes those bur- there is a heaven, and that Mat- dens to take on a life of its own, thew 25 shows how to get there. Richard Willing covers both as a historical artifact and Speaking two months before legal affairs for USA TODAY. Argument against King conspiracy irrational There is something askew in the un- equivocal tone of Richard Willing's review of Gerald Posner's new book, Killing the Dream ("Putting to rest King plot, giving his message life." Book Reviews, Life, April 9). The way Willing praises Posner for not only sustaining the "official" version of Martin Luther King's death but also for de- stroying all other credible theses goes be- yond mere arrogance; it's cynicism of the worst variety. The nature of any thinking person is to indeed question authority, a fact that eludes both Posner and Willing. There is ! no clearer proof of their irrational logic than in Posner's claim: "That James Fart Ray has lived 30 years after the murder Is persuasive evidence that professional con- spirators were not involved." Isn't Posner betraying this very senti- ment in his other book on 'JFK, Case Closed, when he Ignores the multitude bf documented deaths as evidence of a con- spiracy? This only showcases Posner's slippery ' relationship with truth, switching method- ology from subject to subject Neither he nor Willing's fawning review should have been printed without stronger editorial restraint Oliver Stone, filmmaker Santa Monica, Calif. Teachers deserve recognition