Chasing King's Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassin

Swanson provides detailed information about both King and Ray’s backgrounds and upbringings. How do these details shape his portraits of both men? How does he present them as foils to one another?

Research one of King’s famous protests mentioned in Chasing King’s Killer, such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott or the March on Washington. What was the nature and purpose of this event? What was its wider significance within the history of the civil rights movement?

How did King’s assassination affect the country and the civil rights movement? In what ways did activism for racial equality in the 1970s and beyond continue, or diverge from, his methods and approach?

Compare Chasing King’s Killer to another one of Swanson’s works about a famous assassination, such as Manhunt. How are the works different or similar in terms of themes, style, and/or the characterization of the assassinated leaders and the assassins?

Throughout the book, Swanson points out all the small, seemingly unimportant moments that led to King’s assassination. How does Swanson depict the relationship between minor figures/events and major ones?

Swanson explores some of the divisions that can occur between public roles and private lives, such as when he contrasts King’s often-serious public persona with his good humor when among friends. How does Swanson depict King’s private life and feelings? What does Swanson’s portrayal suggest about the complicated nature of public service?

Analyze Swanson’s literary and narrative techniques in Chasing King’s Killer. What are some of these techniques, and how are they used in the text? In what ways, if any, do they reflect elements of True Crime writing as a genre more generally?

Swanson sets King’s life and assassination within the broader contexts of America in the 1950s and 60s. What social, political, and/or economic forces shape King’s life and his civil rights mission?