- Hardcover: 1088 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Edition edition (November 1988)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0671460978
- ISBN-13: 978-0671460976
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 5.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.5 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #713,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
An award-winning biography of Martin Luther King Jr., a history of the civil rights movement, and a portrait of an era, Taylor Branch's Parting the Waters begins slowly but soon catches the listener in a tumult of unforgettable events. Branch's thorough research has been synthesized into an impressive account of the violence, courage, and confusion at the beginning of the civil rights movement, building to a powerful conclusion with a blow-by-blow retelling of the events in Birmingham, Alabama. Ably narrated by Joe Morton and C.C.H. Pounder, the audio abridgment is occasionally choppy, but well-done considering the print edition runs about 900 pages. The broad cast of characters includes Baptist preachers and student movement leaders as well as President John F. Kennedy and his cabinet. If you are daunted by the sheer mass of the print edition of Parting the Waters, this abridged production is for you. However don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting more and digging into the print version after all or perhaps the audio version of Pillar of Fire, Taylor's second book in his projected three-part series. (Running time: 6 Hours; 4 cassettes)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Pacifist theologian Reinhold Niebuhr influenced Martin Luther King Jr. more deeply than did Gandhi, according to Branch, whose 880-page chronicle shows the civil rights leader taking Billy Graham's evangelist crusades as his model for organizing mass meetings to attack segregation. Epic in scope, often startling in its judgments and revelations, this gripping narrative mingles biography and history as it moves from the founding in 1867 of the First Baptist Church in Alabama, where King's movement took hold, to John Kennedy's assassination. Branch, journalist and coauthor of Second Wind , provides disturbing glimpses of John Kennedy wavering over integration while manipulating King, and of Robert Kennedy, who authorized FBI wiretaps on King's home and offices. Ralph Abernathy, Bayard Rustin and other leaders are also here, though King holds center-stage for most of the narrative. This stirring, vivid tapestry is the first volume in Branch's America in the King Years. First serial to Washington Post Magazine; BOMC segmented main selection.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
Under such conditions, and with the U.S. Congress threatening a new Fifteenth Amendment to establish the right of Negroes to vote and govern, most whites were of no mind to dispute the Negro right to religion. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Under such conditions, and with the U.S. Congress threatening a new Fifteenth Amendment to establish the right of Negroes to vote and govern, most whites were of no mind to dispute the Negro right to religion. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic History of the Civil Rights Movement,
By
This review is from: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (Paperback)
This is an epic. It discusses the early years of the Civil Rights Movement from the perspective of Martin Luther King Jr. and those around him. The cast of characters ranges from the cantankerous Vernon Johns - a hobo preacher with a doctorate - to the truly bizarre and paranoid J. Edgar Hoover, seeking to destroy king and those around him based on what can only be described as bogus and hyped intelligence of communist infiltration, to the young idealistic members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee, to a President and Attourney General (JFK and RFK) who don't know what to think and really just wish the whole problem would just go away. It is a long haul (921 pages) and very emotionally draining so be prepared but it is worth every page and very much due the Pulitzer prize that it earned.
5.0 out of 5 stars
EVERYONE should read this book,
By Gregory Schmidt "puppy la la" (kansas city, missouri United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (Paperback)
The first few years of the civil rights movement and the years leading up to them are covered in this volume of Taylor Branch's trilogy. After reading this, one really gets a sense of why this movement was truely epic in scope and importance. The narrative does a great job of describing a mass movement with all of it's advances, setbacks, complexities, and contradictions. One gets a vivid impression of the pace of these events and the real change of consciousness that occured among an entire people. Don't be intimidated by the size of this book, it's exciting to read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
best book I've ever read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 (Paperback)
Parting the Waters is an eye-opening look at the incredible drama of the Civil Rights movement, told through the prism of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Branch is a fantastic writer, weaving together stories from the King home to the Oval Office. As someone to young to have lived through the Civil Rights era, I found the revelations of this book to be shocking and enlightening. I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in Civil Rights and American History.
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