In Part 2 of our interview with journalist Jonathan Eig about his new book, King: A Life, the first major biography of the civil rights leader in more than 35 years, he talks about King’s early life and father; King’s formerly enslaved grandparents; the FBI’s push for him to abandon colleagues who were communists; and his opposition to the Vietnam War and launch of the Poor People’s Campaign just before he was killed. “We need to remember the radical words he spoke, and not just the safe ones,” Eig says.

In Part 1, we looked at how the book draws on unredacted FBI files, as well as the files of the personal aide to President Lyndon Baines Johnson, to show how Johnson and others partnered in the FBI’s surveillance of King and efforts to destroy him, led by director J. Edgar Hoover. Eig also interviewed more than 200 people, including many who knew King closely, like the singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte. The book has also drawn attention for its revelation that King was less critical of Malcolm X than previously thought.