Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 » (Reprint)

Taylor Branch is an author and historian perhaps best known for his acclaimed trilogy of books chronicling the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the arc of the American civil rights movement. "I would like my readers to entertain the core notion that civil rights history is not a quaint tale of yesteryear, but rather our best model for the urgent task of understanding and refining democracy," he reflects in our interview.

Parting the Waters was hailed as the most masterful story ever told of the American civil rights movement. Moving from the fiery political baptism of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the corridors of Camelot where the Kennedy brothers weighed demands for justice against the deceptions of J. Edgar Hoover, here is a vivid tapestry of America, torn and finally transformed by a revolutionary struggle unequaled since the Civil War.

Taylor Branch provides a portrait of King's rise to greatness and illuminates the stunning courage and private conflict, the deals, maneuvers, betrayals, and rivalries that determined history behind closed doors, at boycotts and sit-ins, on bloody freedom rides, and through siege and murder.

Epic in scope and impact, Branch's chronicle captures one of the nation's most crucial passages.

Library Journal

Branch continues his acclaimed trilogy on the Civil Rights era, begun with Parting the Waters (LJ 1/89).