Today is the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. Contrary to the sanitized saccharine version of Martin Luther King most school children are force feed stands the real man. A radical. A democratic socialist. A man truly despised in the circles of power. Who, in the last campaign before he was struck down, expanded the search for justice beyond nondiscrimination into the realm of true empowerment.

Charles Euchner’s Nobody Turn Me Around shines much needed light on the legions of individuals and institutions behind the March on Washington. Euchner offers a particularly useful window onto three issues shaping the 1963 rally: the scale of the organizing effort, the ideological and personal tensions driving march organizers, and the policies activists pressed the Kennedy Administration and Congress to enact. By centering his analysis on the people and polices driving the march, Euchner presents the rally as a fully human contrivance—the product of dedicated but nonetheless flawed people who understood the value of forging temporary alliances to achieve specific political ends.

Happy Martin Luther King Day. To honor Martin Luther King it seems appropriate to remember what the government of his time (and clearly ours) did to thwart his activism.

Dayen’s news roundup from Monday, January 16, 2012, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It’s Colbert vs Mitt; that’s easy. The Queen needs a bigger boat? Phil Angelides wants to solve the housing problem. Foreign stories from Egypt, Syria, Romania, Korea, Canada, Switzerland and California.

Well, I can admit I don’t quite measure up to Martin’s standard. The good news is, though, that with each passing year, I have become a better warrior. I have broken out of my little shell and have learned to be comfortable with strongly expressing my opinions in public settings. I’m a regular speaker at local board hearings that are often televised. While I’m no movie star, I frequently get an “oh, I recognize you” from people around town. I take seriously the maxim “think globally; act locally.”