These are anxious times, and many seeking solace or direction are reaching back to thinkers and activists of the past, pondering how to move forward.

What might Coretta Scott King do? Her new memoir, My Life, My Love, My Legacy (Henry Holt, 356 pp., *** out of four stars), may give us some answers.

Coretta Scott King died in 2006 at age 78, and this memoir is based on recordings made with journalist Barbara Reynolds, a former member of USA TODAY’s editorial board. Students of civil rights will know many of the events that King recounts; the Montgomery bus boycott, the bloody march across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, and of course the assassination of her husband on April 4, 1968.

 Still, particularly for a younger generation, it is illuminating to hear the reflections of someone who was not just behind the scenes of history, but enmeshed in its most intimate details.

For the complete story, visit USAToday.com/Life/Books.

 

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