REVIEW: JOHN LEWIS: A LIFE, by David Greenberg
If 2016’s award-winning graphic novel March introduced a new generation to John Lewis and his version of “good trouble,” then David Greenberg’s John Lewis: A Life is an imperative to get to know the man. In his biography, Greenberg manages to capture Lewis’ lifelong enthusiasm for justice in amber, effectively reminding readers that change does not come to those who wait but to those who get to work.
For those familiar with Greenberg’s work, his obvious commitment to researching his subjects should come as no surprise.
A professor of history and journalism at Rutgers University, Greenberg has devoted his attention to titans of American political ambiguity, authoring award winning biographies about Richard Nixon and Calvin Coolidge in addition to the revelatory Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency. However, it is with his portrait of Georgia’s own John Lewis that an audience is introduced to Greenberg at the height of his powers. With access to unseen documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, hundreds of interviews, and a journalist’s critical eye, Greenberg pulls off a near impossible task: offering a fresh perspective on a man who has loomed large in the public eye for over 50 years.
The retelling of Lewis’ historic call to activism from rural Alabama to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement and U.S. House of Representatives is nothing less than a renewed call to arms for any citizen concerned with social justice. One of the original Freedom Riders, Lewis was nearly killed in 1965 when Alabama State Troopers and local police attacked peaceful protesters marching from Selma to Montgomery.
In an incident that would become known as Bloody Sunday, photographs captured law enforcement’s targeted use of tear gas and police batons on the marchers, prompting immediate public outcry and an unmistakable turning point of the Civil Rights movement. One photograph shows Lewis at the forefront of the violence, being struck by police with a club. He sustained a fracture to his skull that left scars that remained visible for the rest of his life. He was only 25 years old.
These cinematic events contributed to the lore of Lewis as a leviathan of morality, and a lesser biographer might have fallen into the trap of using them as the lens with which to view the rest of Lewis’ career. Greenberg makes no such mistake. His true talent as a biographer is on display when he moves away from Lewis’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘60s and reveals the nuance behind when Lewis’s stances became battle tested political views.
With a masterful understanding of contemporary politics, readers are not just exposed to the mechanisms of the American political machine, but to how one man came to be an invigorating force within it. Greenberg does not shy away from the gray areas of Lewis’ life, including the fallout of his friendship with fellow politician and activist Julian Bond, and his roles in the Clinton and Obama administrations.
The on-the-ground details of Greenberg’s portrayal of Lewis can serve as a roadmap for anyone feeling out of step with the political landscape. Greenberg’s offering on Lewis’ life reinforces the power of action and the critical role of all citizens to participate in their democracy.
With John Lewis: A Life, Greenberg put this very power of idea to action documenting not just the life of John Lewis, but the truth to his way of life – and with ample research to prove it.
Simon & Schuster, Hardcover, $35, October 2024 | ISBN13: 9781982142995
Caitlin Philippo is a researcher, freelance journalist who lives in Savannah.
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