Hajar Yazdiha's The Struggle for the People's King is an ambitious book that draws from various social theorists, journalists, and activist rhetoric. The purpose of the book is to determine how and why certain identity groups and political organizations have attached themselves to the legacy and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and more widely to the Black Civil Rights Movement. The book also suggests words and phrases matter if used by history-making individuals, at critical historical moments. The original speakers have immediate ownership, but there is no guarantee that their words will not be appropriated or misappropriated.

Yazdiha raises the question of who controls the collective memory of the nation and what purpose it serves. More specifically, the book highlights how the struggle over collective memory finds itself in the process of rhetorical appropriations and misappropriation among various groups. Yazdiha defines collective memory as a “socially constructed story about the past that emerges through a set of political and cultural practices” (12). Contested and misappropriated collective memories is a norm. Yazdiha found that “by 2020 all types of social movements (animal rights, anti-abortion, Christian Rights, conservative, environment/conservation, gun rights immigration, LGBTQ, Muslim rights, nativ