Nightjohn describes the AfricanAmerican commitment to freedom and determination to resist oppression that eventually flourished in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Paulsen's commitment the ideal of equal rights is clear in Martin Luther King: The Man Who Climbed the Mountain (1976), his biography (with Dan Theis) of the great civil rights leader. Easy to read, fast paced, factual, and free of sermonizing, the book is a tribute to both the inspiring ideals and practical accomplishments of a charismatic leader.

Paulsen's own initial encounter with racism is a major theme in his autobiography, Eastern Sun, Winter Moon (1993). As a boy during World War II, Paulsen witnessed the antipathy of American civilians and soldiers for not only the Japanese who were enemies—which is understandable—but for Asians in general, including allies like the Filipinos. Yet such attitudes instinctively struck Paulsen as...