Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, activist, raconteur, and political candidate, finally gets a book worthy of his stature courtesy of CNN anchor Abby Phillip. Focusing on his presidential runs in 1984 and, especially, 1988, Phillip highlights how Jackson built an unlikely coalition that showed how Black political power could be consolidated. His experience working under Martin Luther King; his organizing the SLCC's Operation Breadbasket in Chicago and beyond; and his roots in the deep South combined into two astonishingly impactful presidential campaigns. Appealing to the working people of urban enclaves like that of Chicago, young people on college campuses, and Black people across the South, he created the modern Democratic coalition-one that has been used by all major Democrats seeking national success from With her expert reporting, natural storytelling skills, and a story so full of humanity, politics, and hope, Abby Phillip has written a rousing popular history that sheds new light on an American icon."Jesse Jackson's presidential campaigns showed America that leadership could look different, that power could be shared, and that more voices deserved to be heard," said Phillip. "His movement laid the foundation for the coalitions that define our democracy today. This book is my effort to capture the urgency, the messiness, and the possibility of that era, and what it still has to teach us now." At a time when questions of representation, democracy, and belonging are once again at the forefront of American life, A Dream Deferred offers urgent lessons from a leader who pioneered modern coalition politics. The battles Jesse Jackson fought in the 1980s, over voter access, multiracial coalition-building, and the visibility of Black political leadership, mirror the very debates shaping our politics today. By revisiting Jackson's story, Phillip not only restores him to his rightful place in history, but also reminds us that the struggles of the past are inseparable from the challenges of the present.

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