He was just seven years old and watching television in the family's den when a special news bulletin announced that his father had fallen to an assassin's bullet -- a tragedy that would forever scar his adolescence. But as an adult, Dexter Scott King was determined to confront the past, discover the truth about his father's murder, and protect his father's legacy... To a divided country, Martin Luther King, Jr., was a leader who represented shining hope. Yet to his youngest son, Dexter, he was a gentle father who joyfully played with his children. Then the civil rights leader was brutally assassinated...and Dexter found his family's life irrevocably shattered. Burdened by wrenching grief and tremendous expectations, Dexter eventually triumphed over both by proving in a civil jury trial that there was a conspiracy involving governmental agencies to kill his father. Poignant and bracingly candid, GROWING UP KING is an intimate portrait of an unforgettable hero, a loving son, and the unbreakable bond between them. Book jacket.

Dexter Scott King currently serves as chairman, president, and CEO of The King Center, based in Atlanta, Georgia Ralph Wiley is one of America's most distinguished African-American writers and the author of Dark Witness