Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin

One of the most important figures of the American civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin taught Martin Luther King Jr. the methods of Gandhi, spearheaded the 1963 March on Washington, and helped bring the struggle of African Americans to the forefront of a nation's consciousness. But despite his incontrovertibly integral role in the movement, the openly gay Rustin is not the household name that many of his activist contemporaries are. In exploring history's Lost Prophet, acclaimed historian John D'Emilio explains why Rustin's influence was minimized by his peers and why his brilliant strategies were not followed, or were followed by those he never meant to help.

The Washington Post

At the end as at the beginning, [Rustin] was true to himself and his convictions. John D'Emilio has done him, and us, the great good service of showing how deep those convictions ran and how utterly central they were to his splendid life. — Jonathan Yardley