Pillar of Fire

Trevor Coleman Detroit Free Press The strength of Pillar of Fire lies in Branch's unsurpassed ability to bring the reader into the moment, enabling one to almost feel the tension of the times.

Autorentext

Taylor Branch is the much honoured author of a number of non-fiction books. He is currently working on the final volume of his acclaimed history of the civil rights movement.

Klappentext

In the second volume of the three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began with PARTING THE WATERS, winner of the Pulitzer Prize Taylor Branch portrays the Civil Rights Movement at its zenith, recounting the climactic struggles as they commanded the national stage. Beginning where PARTING THE WATERS left off with the death of JFK, PILLAR OF FIRE recounts the rise of the movement that stirred from Southern black churches to challenge the national conscience. PILLAR OF FIRE covers the far-flung upheavals of the years 1963-1965, including Dallas, St. Augustine, Mississippi Freedom Summer, LBJ's Great Society and the Civil Rights Act of 1963, Vietnam and Selma. Taylor provides a frank portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. revealing him to be haunted by blackmail, factionalism, and hatred while he tried to hold the non-violent movement together as a dramatic force in history. Allies, rivals, and opponents addressed racial issues that went deeper than fair treatment at bus stops or lunch counters. Participants on all sides stretched themselves and their country to the breaking point over the meaning of simple words: dignity, equal votes, equal souls.

Zusammenfassung
From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch, the second part of his epic trilogy on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement.

In the second volume of his three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began with Parting the Waters, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Taylor Branch portrays the Civil Rights Movement at its zenith, recounting the climactic struggles as they commanded the national stage.

Beginning with the Nation of Islam and conflict over racial separatism, Pillar of Fire takes the reader to Mississippi and Alabama: Birmingham, the murder of Medgar Evers, the "March on Washington," the Civil Rights Act, and voter registration drives. In 1964, King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Branch's magnificent trilogy makes clear why the Civil Rights Movement, and indeed King's leadership, are among the nation's enduring achievements. In bringing these decades alive, preserving the integrity of those who marched and died, Branch gives us a crucial part of our history and heritage.

Inhalt

Contents
Preface to Pillar of Fire

PART ONE
BIRMIGHAM TIDES
1 Islam in Los Angeles
2 Prophets in Chicago
3 LBJ in St. Augustine
4 Gamblers in Law
5 To Vote in Mississippi: Advance by Retreat
6 Tremors: L.A. to Selma
7 Marx in the White House
8 Summer Freeze
9 Cavalry: Lowenstein and the Church
10 Mirrors in Black and White
11 Against All Enemies
12 Frontiers on Edge: The Last Month

PART TWO
NEW WORLDS PASSING
13 Grief
14 High Councils
15 Hattiesburg Freedom Day
16 Ambush
17 Spreading Poisons
18 The Creation of Muhammad Ali
19 Shaky Pulpits
20 Mary Peabody Meets the Klan
21 Wrestling with Legends
22 Filibusters
23 Pilgrims and Empty Pitchers
24 Brushfires

PART THREE
FREEDOM SUMMER
25 Jail Marches
26 Bogue Chitto Swamp
27 Beachheads
28 Testing Freedom
29 The Cow Palace Revolt
30 King in Mississippi
31 Riot Politics
32 Crime, War, and Freedom School
33 White House Etiquette
34 A Dog in the Manger: The Atlantic City Compromise
35 "We see the giants..."
36 Movements Unbound

PART FOUR
"LORD, MAKE ME PURE -- BUT NOT YET"
37 Landslide
38 Nobel Prize
39 To the Valley: The Downward King
40 Saigon, Audubon, and Selma
Epilogue

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations Used in Source Notes
Notes
Major Works Cited in Notes
Index