The Mindless Menace of Violence: Robert F. Kennedy's Vision and the Fierce Urgency of Now

On April 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy stepped to the podium at the City Club of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio and gave an address titled the "Mindless Menace of Violence." It had been one day since an assassin's bullet killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. For a country seeking to understand the senseless bloodshed and the future of the United States in peril from acts of indifference, Kennedy attempted to paint a picture of society in which citizens had become out of touch with one another.

This book is an examination of Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 speech. Using a line-by-line breakdown, the author analyzes the history behind Kennedy's words and discerns a warning for the future of American society. In history as in society, words can change the course of human events. As American society has become increasingly violent, Kennedy's words are just as important today.