No Greater Love: The James Reeb Story [Civil Rights Movement, Religious Activism]

A DEATH IN SELMA - A NATION CONFRONTS ITS CONSCIENCE. In March 1965, Unitarian minister James Reeb traveled to Selma, Alabama, to join the struggle for voting rights. Brutally attacked by white segregationists, he died two days later. His murder intensified national outrage and helped focus public attention on the violence confronting the Civil Rights Movement. THE MINISTER WHO ANSWERED SELMA'S CALL. Duncan Howlett's No Greater Love traces Reeb's journey from Presbyterian minister to committed Unitarian social activist, exploring the convictions that brought him to Selma. Drawing upon interviews with family members, colleagues, and civil rights leaders, Howlett presents an intimate portrait of a man whose religious faith demanded action. Published just one year after Reeb's death, this first edition preserves an immediate account of one of the defining episodes in the campaign for voting rights. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: FIRST EDITION - ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY. +++ Original publisher's hardcover binding with illustrated dust jacket. Includes a section of black-and-white photographs documenting Reeb's life and the Civil Rights Movement. +++ Octavo (8vo), 8.5 inches tall. xii, [1], 242 pages, including index. +++ First Edition, First Printing, published by Harper & Row in 1966. +++ Original dust jacket with printed price of $4.95. CONDITION: NEAR FINE IN A VERY GOOD-Plus DUST JACKET. Book Near Fine, with minimal shelf handling. Binding tight and square; interior clean and unmarked. Original dust jacket Very Good-Plus, with only a hint of corner wear. Publisher's $4.95 price remains intact. A particularly attractive copy. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: SELMA, RELIGIOUS CONSCIENCE & THE VOTING RIGHTS MOVEMENT. James Reeb was among the clergy who answered Martin Luther King Jr.'s call to support voting rights demonstrators in Selma following the violence of Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. Attacked on March 9, Reeb died on March 11. His death received widespread national attention, and President Lyndon B. Johnson referred to his murder in his March 15 address to Congress urging passage of voting rights legislation. THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVISM. Reeb's life illustrates the involvement of religious leaders in the Civil Rights Movement and the belief that faith carried obligations beyond the pulpit. His death also reveals the unequal public attention given to victims of racial violence, including Black activists whose sacrifices received less national recognition. Published close to the events it describes, Howlett's biography remains a valuable contemporary account of the intersection of religious conviction, nonviolent protest, and the struggle for voting rights. Subjects: Civil Rights Movement, Religious Activism, Racial Justice, Unitarian Universalism, American History, Biography, Civil Rights History, Religious Studies.…