# Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend this 1963 open letter for its lasting moral force and its lessons on changing minds through persuasion rather than authority. No critics appeared in the discussions.

## Why people recommend it

- Rewards repeated reading (2 comments): "I always re-read this on MLK day and learn something new each time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46683596)) "I always find something new in it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46683559))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur](https://hackerapproved.com/p/programming-as-theory-building.md): 32 recommend
- [Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ur-fascism.md): 18 recommend
- [Politics and the English Language by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/politics-and-the-english-language.md): 14 recommend
- [Right to Read by Richard Stallman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/right-to-read.md): 12 recommend
- [Meditations on Moloch by Scott Alexander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/meditations-on-moloch.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Letter+from+a+Birmingham+Jail+by+Martin+Luther+King+Jr.&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.", https://hackerapproved.com/p/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).