Category Books

Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1965 »

Authors: Taylor Branch
ISBN-13: 9780684848099, ISBN-10: 0684848090
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Date Published: January 1999
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Taylor Branch

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.

Book Synopsis

The second volume of Branch's trilogy on the civil rights era.

Jeff Shesol

Branch spins an intricate, seamless web of politics and personalities, ambition and imagination, triumph and tragedy. —The Washington Post Book World

	Preface to Pillar of Fire
Pt. 1	Birmingham Tides	1
1	Islam in Los Angeles	3
2	Prophets in Chicago	21
3	LBJ in St. Augustine	33
4	Gamblers in Law	41
5	To Vote in Mississippi: Advance by Retreat	50
6	Tremors: L.A. to Selma	75
7	Marx in the White House	86
8	Summer Freeze	104
9	Cavalry: Lowenstein and the Church	118
10	Mirrors in Black and White	130
11	Against All Enemies	146
12	Frontiers on Edge: The Last Month	155
Pt. 2	New Worlds Passing	171
13	Grief	173
14	High Councils	195
15	Hattiesburg Freedom Day	214
16	Ambush	225
17	Spreading Poisons	235
18	The Creation of Muhammad Ali	251
19	Shaky Pulpits	263
20	Mary Peabody Meets the Klan	277
21	Wrestling with Legends	288
22	Filibusters	298
23	Pilgrims and Empty Pitchers	312
24	Brushfires	328
Pt. 3	Freedom Summer	341
25	Jail Marches	343
26	Bogue Chitto Swamp	361
27	Beachheads	375
28	Testing Freedom	387
29	The Cow Palace Revolt	401
30	King in Mississippi	407
31	Riot Politics	417
32	Crime, War, and Freedom School	427
33	White House Etiquette	443
34	A Dog in the Manger: The Atlantic City Compromise	456
35	"We see the giants..."	477
36	Movements Unbound	490
Pt. 4	"Lord, Make Me Pure - but Not Yet"	511
37	Landslide	513
38	Nobel Prize	538
39	To the Valley: The Downward King	552
40	Saigon, Audubon, and Selma	571
	Epilogue	601
	Acknowledgments	615
	Abbreviations Used in Source Notes	617
	Notes	620
	Major Sources Cited in Notes	712
	Index	717