Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63 by Taylor Branch

Apr 01, 2011 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Did not dock a star for the 20 missing pages in the paperback edition I read. Accidents will happen. I missed some childhood. I enjoyed how smoothly this was written--the thing is huge, so it was nice bonus while I propped up the brick, that it was also a decent read. This is not always true with biographies.
The book is very detailed about the civil rights movement and the times in general. It's a triple biography that adds names, details and background to all that black and white footage I wat...more

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Apr 23, 2008 Fritz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, biography

More a history of the times than a traditional biography, Parting the Waters is a fascinating telling of the American civil rights movement up to the time of JFK's assassination. There is a huge amount of material in just this first of three volumes, but the pace and flowing concision of Branch's writing makes it easy--maybe even necessary--to get through.

I've known of many of the history's major characters and events throughout my life, but I had no sense of how superficial that knowledge was....more

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Sep 22, 2007 Joel rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: history buffs, activists

Parting the Waters defines what a popular history should be: detailed, well-researched, and as readable as a novel. While the life of MLK is the fulcrum of the work, Branch delves deeply into into areas as diverse as the history of Dexter Avenue Baptist and power struggle between Bobby Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover. All this detail means that as Branch moves chronologically through the major events of the Civil Rights struggle, you feel like you have the context to understand exactly what these ev...more

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Oct 04, 2008 Ira rated it 5 of 5 stars

The book took me weeks to read through and at times I wasn't too happy about its (or my) slurring pace but when its all said and done - this book is great. The book is an almost day to day recounting of the uprising of the civil rights movement and begins with King as a young man. Branch captures Kings maturation as a leader as seen through the movement. There is also heavy room given to the competing leaders, preachers, etc in the movement as well as the Kennedy administration and the state and...more

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Jul 21, 2007 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: americanhistory

Superb but long, even for me, who likes a lot of backstory and detail. The best section is on the creation of the "Letter from Birmingham Jail." After the last of this trilofy was published I read review that stated that Branch either didn't get the full story on all of the events covered or didn't incorporate all points of view on a lot of the most important matters. Given the length of each book it seems hard to belive that's the case, but I would like to hear from anyone who shares that criti...more

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Apr 17, 2013 David Bates rated it 4 of 5 stars

Taylor Branch’s 1988 work Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 is an authoritative narrative of the southern Civil Rights Movement focused on large organizations, their leaders, and key events. Based on numerous biographies, autobiographies and interviews, Branch’s account turns on relationships and personalities with a keen eye for how the experiences of the Movement shaped Martin Luther King, John and Robert Kennedy, John Doar, Bayard Rustin, Robert Moses and many others. S...more Taylor Branch’s 1988 work Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 is an authoritative narrative of the southern Civil Rights Movement focused on large organizations, their leaders, and key events. Based on numerous biographies, autobiographies and interviews, Branch’s account turns on relationships and personalities with a keen eye for how the experiences of the Movement shaped Martin Luther King, John and Robert Kennedy, John Doar, Bayard Rustin, Robert Moses and many others. Structured in the main around Martin Luther King’s career with the SCLC but branching off frequently into other key episodes, it is a work with many strengths, although at times uncritically positive toward King who portrayed as a good man becoming great through his trials. The prose are vivid and give thorough account of a movement with many personalities and key events, careful attention is paid to southern black churches and their politics, and the institutional pressures within both activist organizations and the federal government. Emerging from his attention to leading men and their relationships is the ambivalence toward unfolding events within the Kennedy administration, drawing out the frustration of the earnest John Doar’s labors to protect Civil Rights workers despite low levels of support from the politically appointed leadership of the Attorney General’s office and Robert Kennedy. The ephemeral nature of John Kennedy’s commitment is summed up nicely in an incidental cutting observation Branch makes while narrating events shortly before King’s Birmingham campaign. “Shackled to the Southern Democrats, President Kennedy shrank from the political implications . . . On the other hand, he and Mrs. Kennedy felt completely relaxed at social gatherings with Negroes.” Such flashes often occur in Parting the Waters, which while it bears many of the sins of Great Man history such as overemphasis on highly visible leaders and narratives that switch from high point to high point often without local depth of context, also has its best virtues of psychological insight. Robert Moses’ impact as a formative personality with SNCC is another such telling moment. “Moses,” Branch tells us “was a mythical purist” who unlike other organizers in the South seemed to become fatigued whenever he was not on a dangerous assignment. “He reversed the psychic balance between tension and relief” and by the example of his commitment he created an archetypal ideal that other SNCC organizers sought to imitate. “The image of SNCC came to be not so much a sit-in student or Freedom Rider but rather a kind of priest who chose to isolate himself deep behind the lines of segregation for years at a time.” (less)

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Dec 12, 2012 Mikey B. rated it 5 of 5 stars

A monumental history of America and the Civil Rights movement. Superlatives abound! It is amazing how Mr. Branch can go from the top (King, Kennedy, Hoover) to people at the very roots of the Civil Rights movement (Rosa Parks, John Lewis, William Moore, Louis Allen…). The cast of characters who made things happen and broke down barriers is astonishing.

Dr. King is portrayed as a man of moral fibre who knew what was wrong and right in society and deeply tolerant of other people’s shortcomings – pa...more A monumental history of America and the Civil Rights movement. Superlatives abound! It is amazing how Mr. Branch can go from the top (King, Kennedy, Hoover) to people at the very roots of the Civil Rights movement (Rosa Parks, John Lewis, William Moore, Louis Allen…). The cast of characters who made things happen and broke down barriers is astonishing.

Dr. King is portrayed as a man of moral fibre who knew what was wrong and right in society and deeply tolerant of other people’s shortcomings – particularly his segregationist adversaries. King never preached or condoned hate.

The Kennedy’s are seen as blowing alternately hot and cold for the Civil Rights movement. Both would speak emotionally and persuasively of human equality but back off from passing the essential legislation. Between the Kennedy’s and King stood the evil silent presence of J. Edgar Hoover - surely one of the most ominous and manipulative man in 20th century American history. Hoover’s F.B.I. fiefdom was used to pulling power strings in Washington. The word “communist” was used on anyone who was Hoover’s adversary. Hoover used sex as a way to pull the strings of the Kennedy’s – who were responsible for first setting up wiretaps on Martin Luther King’s advisor Stanley Levison and ultimately on Dr. King himself.

Mr. Branch is equally eloquent when outlining the vicious segregationist violence in the Southern States. Robert Moses is an oasis of reason and calm in a sea of senseless hostility. He was part of a group educating and attempting to empower Mississippi blacks to register to vote.

King is also seen as a troubled man, unsure of the next step – sensing that sometimes he was taking the easy way by going on speaking tours and avoiding decisions on whether to march, to go to jail, to post bail… King never made money from Civil Rights; except for buying good clothes he did not accumulate wealth. He was underestimated by his opponents (the federal and state governments) who did not see King as understanding the vicissitudes of power. But they did not realize that growing up in the Baptist preacher organization gave him an understanding of how to manoeuvre and manipulate men and women in power.

This is truly a required book for understanding those tumultuous years of America history. It is the first volume of three. It is great reading.

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Jul 02, 2011 Steve Horton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the reviewers echoed my feelings...this is probably the best non-fiction I have ever read. King is the axis of this brilliant but disturbing narrative, but the history of the US is skillfully interwoven. Although there were many uplifting portions of the story, what a sad commentary on us as a nation. What were the outrageous demands of the civil rights movement-opportunity and equality?

In what can easily be characterized as a battle of good vs. evil, Taylor takes us from the deep south,...more

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May 09, 2011 Clif rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I first read this book years ago and was so impressed that I put it on the shelf to read again. In the meantime, I discovered that this is only the first of three books Taylor Branch has written on the Civil Rights struggle and this time I intend to take them all in.

From any perspective, Parting of the Waters is a masterpiece. Branch doesn't let a person come into the story without a lively introduction including the character traits that will help the reader keep track of one person among so ma...more I first read this book years ago and was so impressed that I put it on the shelf to read again. In the meantime, I discovered that this is only the first of three books Taylor Branch has written on the Civil Rights struggle and this time I intend to take them all in.

From any perspective, Parting of the Waters is a masterpiece. Branch doesn't let a person come into the story without a lively introduction including the character traits that will help the reader keep track of one person among so many that stand out during the years described. This book is encompassed by the life of Vernon Johns. Who? I couldn't begin to describe him, you should find out for yourself.

Branch includes just enough information on the events outside of the Civil Rights Movement to place what happens within parts of history that every American alive at the time would recall, from Cold War incidents to popular songs.

But his ability to draw vivid pictures of people interacting, in concord or conflict, while giving a respectful account of each makes this book come to life in a way I've never seen equaled by any other historian. I was enthralled.

Though M.L. King, Jr. is the central figure, the book is truly the story of "America in the King Years" described in the subtitle. Branch is not an acolyte or a judge. He presents King and everyone else with their flaws along with their virtues in a way that left me feeling I was an intimate friend of those I read about - listening to them voice their doubts, fears and even hatreds along with their hopes, aspirations and ideals. No incident is too insignificant if it helps us understand the nature of personal relationships. King was an intellectual, so of course we get a capsule summary of the thoughts of Reinhold Niebuhr in shaping King's thoughts. This book has it all.

This "eye of God" manner of writing can only be successful if the writer's knowledge is both wide-ranging and comprehensive. The writing must illuminate and follow themes drawn from what would otherwise be a bewildering flood of information. At no time in the 900 pages was I lost. Rather I could feel the building momentum, the excitement of the successes when they came and the humbling, depressing moments when all seemed lost.

So vivid is Branch's prose that I was deeply moved when he painted the scene of a huge crowd gathered at night, overflowing into the street between two black churches where singing from one sanctuary was answered with a response from another. The electric mix of excitement and hope put such a lump in my throat that I had to pause in my reading to let my awe subside. What it would have been like to be there!

Branch often takes a few paragraphs to deconstruct events in the light of personality conflicts and dilemmas faced by individuals that tell the reader so much about the stresses and seemingly insurmountable problems that arrived continually. How to keep the movement(s) going when public interest would lag? What was the relationship of the Southern Christian Leadership Council to the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the NAACP? What was going on in the Kennedy administration far behind what the press could see? One is taken so deep inside these groups that the press of egos and the limitations on what people can do becomes clear along with the impressive possibilities there to exploit - if only they can be seen through the chaotic march of events. Is it any wonder that many prayed "help me Lord" in the mix of bureaucracy, uncertainty, and grave danger?

You'll end the book with a strong impression of what an amazing period it was and what remarkable acts came forth from King and so many others. King was by no means the director of events, only the most prominent spokesman for so many who had had enough. The time was right and the man, men and women came along to match it. We know human beings can hate easily, but when you consider the feats of courage and determination we are capable of, it takes your breath away. The uneasiness felt in the presence of injustice should be a prompt to all of us that we can act beyond expectations, transcending comfort and convenience to find our greatest possibility - but it won't be easy!

The humanity revealed in Parting of the Waters easily makes it one of the best books I have ever read, I can't think of one more powerful. (less)

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Apr 27, 2009 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Parting the Waters is about the civil rights movement of mid-20th century America. Branch indicates in his title that these late-1950, early 1960's years were properly "The King Years." Martin Luther King Jr. came of age and had his career path steered by the events that were taking place in America at that time, and in turn he became the single most influential figure shaping the manner in which the civil rights battles would be waged. The book is not therefore purely a biography of King, as mu...more

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Apr 17, 2007 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone interested in MLK or American History or Jesus or Non-Violence

Shelves: favorites

Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of my all time favorite people. I had read his autobiography but I really prefer this on over his. This book is part one of a three part series on the Civil Rights Movement, focusing on MLK's life. Taylor Branch builds a great sense of the narrative of the movement. The book is a little over 900 pages but it gives a good back story for each person involved. I am looking forward to reading the other two parts.

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Jul 11, 2010 Pedsplace rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best nonfiction books that I have ever read. Easily deserving of a Pulitzer, Branch documents the early history of the Civil Rights movement in a thorough but incredibly engrossing style. His approach is nuanced and he does not create black and white characters. King is a flawed individual who nevertheless succeeds in rising to greatest, to a large extent, as a product of his times.

But after reading this book, one is thoroughly astounded and appalled at what life was like in...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Lola Wallace rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1960s-and-70s, americana, history, listened-to, nonfiction

I can't truthfully say I've "read" this, because I didn't realize exactly how abridged the audiobook was. How or why you would abridge an incredibly well-written, Pulitzer Prize-winning 1000-page book into six CDs, I don't know (especially considering a lot of the tripe that gets the ua treatment). Especially since Joe Morton and CCH Pounder do a killer job with the reading, and Taylor Branch's prose is some of the most ludic, poetic historiography ever, covering some of the most important event...more

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Jan 17, 2010 Bap rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, biography, politics

This book is astonishing. It tells us how far we have come since 1955 and the Montgomery bus boycott when millions of Blacks were invisible and powerless as a mater of law and in fact. The power they took and the rights they secured did not come cheap or without massive resistance and violence from the whites in the South which had closed ranks in opposition to desegregation. this was not just rednecks, it included the power structure, the elites who wre unwilling to cede Blacks an inch unless i...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is definitely one of the most influential books I have ever read. It opened up an entirely new world to me as I watched the Civil Rights Movement unfold over the course of Taylor Branch’s narrative. The African American religious tradition, the theology and politics of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders, the intricate federal politics, the terrible violence, the tensions within the movement, and the courage of ordinary people are vividly portrayed. If you’re not familiar...more

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May 11, 2009 Roger rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow! Finally finished this book. First part of a trilogy. Have already read Part 3 last summer. This book is a very extensive history of the early Martin Luther King, Jr. years and his struggles getting the Civil Rights Movement with non violence as the method of achieving the goal of stopping segregation. The books covers his family history, his training to be a minister and the history of Dexter Ave. Bapstist Church in Montgomery. He was a new young minister in Montgomery when Rosa Parks refus...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Mari Stroud rated it 5 of 5 stars

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Branch writes all of the major historical players in one of the biggest movements in history in accessible prose, with volumes of context, and with very little editorialising of frequently flawed men and women. (Except for Hoover; he hates Hoover. Come on, though, if there was ever a person who deserved a hate-boner...) I especially loved the emphasis, so neglected in modern teachings of the Civil Rights Movement, on the *movement*. This was not a series of lucky...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Bathcitygazette rated it 3 of 5 stars

I learned about the role of "the Preacher" in the Afro-American church. This was very interesting to me. I learned about the preachers who preceded Martin Luther King, Jr'; namely Rev Vernon John and Martin Luther King Sr. ........ very interesting.
I was disappointed because I was very interested in King's story. And then, suddenly, John F. Kennedy died in 1962 and the novel ended shortly thereafter, in 1963.
What?!?! So, I didn't get to the the last few years of King's life. I re-read the title...more

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Mar 11, 2011 Jackie Wooten is currently reading it

For twenty-five years "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough has been my favorite read, but then, I rescued "Parting the Waters" out of the discount box at Borders... It is clearly America's "Iliad and the Odyssey.
No book has pulled so many emotions out of my body as "Parting the Waters." You will be introduced to great villains and heroes, experience fear at a level you would not think possible, feel joyous, and understand politics on a level you never expected to obtain. As a side...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Tia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, epic, history, politicalstuff, sociology

This is the most epic, engrossing history book ever. It's pretty difficult to find a 1000-page book that's densely written but you nevertheless can't put down, but this book accomplishes that feat. It's the first in a trilogy about the Civil Rights Era, and would be a superior replacement for every history book I had to read from 6th grade on through high school. For most of us who sat through Texas history, MLK was reduced to his "I have a dream" speech, and the particulars of his strategic, me...more

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Jan 16, 2012 David Wrubel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This is not an easy read. First, it is meticulously researched and detailed, very academic, and makes no attempt to homogenize history. Second, there are many many people who were involved in the civil rights movement, to one degree or another...and they're all covered. It's easy to forget who they were or why they were significant. Third, the author is unsparing in his description of the treatment of blacks in the south prior to the Civil Rights Act; much of this is unimaginably brutal, paterna...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Bryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants a better understanding of the civil rights movement. The subject matter was interesting and it was something that I didn't know a lot about. I have two reasons for not giving this book five stars. The first reason is that I felt it dragged in some spots, especially towards the beginning and middle. The second reason is the shere length and density of the book seemed to make it a daunting endeavor (and I read a lot of long books). I do plan on rea...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Sheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Like many African-Americans of my generation, I thought I knew all about the Civil Rights Movement. We lived it, we watched it on tv night after night.

But this book blew me away. To tell the story of those ten years, the author has first tell the religious history of America, the history of African-American religious practice and all the other details that make up the context.

Fabulous, reads like a novel. Won the Pulitzer Prize. First in a trilogy.
After reading this book, I became a member of T...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: worthy-of-owning

Parting the Waters, the first book Taylor Branch's history of the Civil Rights movement, is both more and less than a biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is more than a biography in that it covers all the conflicts involved with the Civil Rights movement during a a ten year period. Beyond just recalling the struggle between the protesters and the segregationists, this book chronicles inter-movement conflicts between the NAACP, SNCC, and King's own SCLC, political fights between the Kenne...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Elliot rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: black-studies, favorites, history

Medgar Evers. John F. Kennedy. Malcolm X. Martin Luther King. Robert Kennedy.

Though these names stand out in the histories, countless others whose stories haven't been adequately told were slain, assaulted, traumatized in defense of a freedom which should never have been in question. Even 50+ years since the "beginning" of the civil rights movement in 1955 -- a year stained by the murder of 14 year old Emmett Till and which held the birth of the Montgomery Improvement Association and its bus boy...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Mary Ronan Drew rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

First-rate history of the civil rights movement. I've read it many years ago and have now re-read it very slowly on my Kindle.

In addition to the voter registration, sit-ins, bus boycott, and marches of the early civil rights movement, much of this first of three volumes involves the battle between J Edgar Hoover's FBI and the Kennedy White House. Bobby Kennedy devoted much time and energy to defeating organized crime before his brother was elected to the presidency, with enormous support from t...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Eliz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

For sheer size and detail, it seems inarguable that Taylor Branch has written the definitive Civil Rights Movement history. This tome, which I hauled around with me for the better part of three weeks, is only a third of the series. In over 900-pages it covers the history of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, the history of King's family in Atlanta and, most extensively, the crescendos and nadirs of the movement from Montgomery to the March on Washington and the assassination of President Kennedy.

Bra...more For sheer size and detail, it seems inarguable that Taylor Branch has written the definitive Civil Rights Movement history. This tome, which I hauled around with me for the better part of three weeks, is only a third of the series. In over 900-pages it covers the history of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, the history of King's family in Atlanta and, most extensively, the crescendos and nadirs of the movement from Montgomery to the March on Washington and the assassination of President Kennedy.

Branch wanders quite thoroughly down paths of subject matter that seem, especially early on, to be diversionary, but ultimately create a remarkably rich context for the reader: King's theological foundations, the inner politics of the National Baptist Convention, the paranoia of a Hoover FBI, the politics of a Kennedy White House, and the foundational disagreements among the NAACP, SCLC, and SNCC --the foremost African-American civil rights groups-- concerning tactics, goals, and motivations.

I taught the Civil Rights Movement twice a school-year for three years to a total of twenty different classes of high school seniors and I felt the constriction of time and attention spans each time. After reading Parting the Waters, I have to recognize again what a weak and limited portrait we're accustomed to of this crucial period in American history. We give our young people and ourselves very little of this remarkable story. What is taught is a vague and watery history punctuated by a handful of names and dates, if teachers have the calendar days to get there at all. The Civil Rights Movement, as I confess to teaching it, may have seemed to my students like exactly what it wasn't. It may have seemed like a somewhat interesting but inevitable tumble towards greater equality, not a growing roar from the conscience of the nation, provoked by those most marginalized and magnified at the price of their very literal blood and tears.

By contrast to my cursory PowerPoints and video clips, Branch adds flesh and blood to the characters of Rosa Parks, John Lewis, and of course Dr. King, retracing their walk through history. He introduces the reader to a much wider cast than our narrow textbook interpretations allow for: Septima Clark, Bob Moses, and the murdered Medgar Evers, to name only a few. He narrates the parallel drama among familiar heavyweights of American history: John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and J. Edgar Hoover. He weaves carefully between descriptions of history and politics, cringe-inducing descriptions of violence and injustice, and soaring depictions of King's oratory and the movement's accomplishments.

Okay, enough from me. Great book. Here are some favorite quotes:

"In miniature, the Freedom Riders were compressing into one summer the psychology of the first three centuries of Christianity under the Roman Empire. Perpetually on the brink of schism, apostles of nonviolent love were fanning out into the provinces to fill jails, while their confederates were negotiating with the emperors themselves for full citizenship rights, hoping to establish their outlandish new faith as the official doctrine of the state."

"Trying at once to explain whites to Negroes and Negroes to whites, King felt all the more acutely the "anxieties and sensitivities" that "make each day of life a turmoil ... another emotional battle in a never-ending war." The Negro, he said, "is shackled in his waking moments to tip-toe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and in his subconscious he wrestles with this added demon.""

"...on King's thirty-fourth birthday, the FBI officially wrote him off as unfit for mediation of negotiation. Thereafter, upon receiving intelligence that someone was trying to kill him, the Bureau would refuse to warn King as it routinely warned other potential targets... The FBI assigned full enemy status to King, who had staked his life and his religion on the chance that enemy-thinking might be overcome. That an intelligence agency took such a step in the belief that King was an enemy of freedom, ignorant of the reality that King had just set in motion the greatest firestorm of domestic liberty in a hundred years, was one of the saddest ironies of American history."(less)

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Apr 04, 2010 Jacob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, 900-plus

I found this on display at my library back for Black History Month and knew I had to read it. Formidable is right: this hefty book, 900+ pages, is both a biography of Martin Luther King, jr., and a near day-to-day history of the American Civil Rights Movement. The first of a trilogy, it chronicles King’s early life, culminating in his arrival at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery in 1954, the shaky start of the movement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and follows King and others through...more I found this on display at my library back for Black History Month and knew I had to read it. Formidable is right: this hefty book, 900+ pages, is both a biography of Martin Luther King, jr., and a near day-to-day history of the American Civil Rights Movement. The first of a trilogy, it chronicles King’s early life, culminating in his arrival at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery in 1954, the shaky start of the movement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and follows King and others through to 1963, the March on Washington, and the Kennedy Assassination. (Volumes II and III cover 1963-65 and 65-68, respectively)

More than just a biography of King, Branch’s book also focuses on the scores of other members of the movement, both large and small: Bayard Rustin, Bob Moses, Abernathy, Shuttlesworth, and many more I’ve never heard of, as well as other major figures of the times, chief among them President Kennedy, his brother, and J. Edgar Hoover. Though confusing at times (I spent a lot of time skimming previous chapters to remind myself who various people were, and had to consult Wikipedia in my lazier moments), Branch does an admirable job keeping track of everyone. Some of the politics of the movement make for heavy reading, but otherwise the book is a compelling read.

At the risk of sounding naïve, I have to admit it: I never knew things were so bad. I mean, yes, I always knew about segregation, Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides, the violence surrounding school integration, the bombings, etc. But let’s face it: High school history textbooks are a joke. When the entire Civil Rights movement gets a chapter, at best, and the worst of it is glossed over, barely mentioned, or so watered down as to seem more like a minor inconvenience than a monumental struggle to achieve even the most basic goals and freedoms, why wouldn’t anyone be ignorant? I don’t want to make excuses--I should know about this. My knowledge of history is very, very poor. But Taylor Branch has chronicled an exhaustive history of the movement, every step taken, punch and rock thrown, every frustrating moment of failure and success. Long, demanding, dense, and well worth the effort. I definitely need to read the rest of the trilogy.
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Dec 06, 2008 Bill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Standing in front of the smoking ruins of the bombed dwelling lately occupied by your wife and newborn daughter before a seething mob crying out to avenge you is a powerful test of a man's character. On January 30, 1956, Martin Luther King's house was bombed during the Montgomery Bus Boycott; his wife Coretta and daughter Yolanda barely escaped the blast. After the bombing, the house was ringed by a thin line of white policemen in imminent fear of attack by a much larger African American crowd....more Standing in front of the smoking ruins of the bombed dwelling lately occupied by your wife and newborn daughter before a seething mob crying out to avenge you is a powerful test of a man's character. On January 30, 1956, Martin Luther King's house was bombed during the Montgomery Bus Boycott; his wife Coretta and daughter Yolanda barely escaped the blast. After the bombing, the house was ringed by a thin line of white policemen in imminent fear of attack by a much larger African American crowd. Appearing before the crowd, King had first to show them that Coretta and Yoki were unharmed before they would let him speak. Addressing the crowd, King reminded them that his movement was founded upon nonviolence, urged them to disband, go home, and pray, and told them that he would see them at the next mass meeting to support the boycott.

For me, that is the defining moment of Taylor Branch's first thousand pages on the history of Dr. King and his movement: Parting the Waters. The entirely human response would have been to order the summary execution of any white person in sight after one's house had been bombed and one's family nearly killed. To our benefit and his everlasting credit, Dr. King was able to rise above the normal human response and live up to the true meaning of his creed.

Branch's book is by no means a hagiography, however. As it gallops through a thousand pages of burnings, bombings, knifings, shootings, hangings, and mass protests met by police attack dogs and high-powered fire hoses, Branch's book also captures the very human side of King the icon. How many people realize, after all, that the great civil rights leader was born "Mike King, Jr.," a name he retained among his closest associates, that he had a passion for soul food, or that he was an accomplished pool player? From the intrigue within the Baptist Church to the fundraising problems of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Branch effectively conveys a picture not only of the dramatic highlights but also of the tumultuous inner life of the movement.

King is by no means the only luminous figure in this first volume of Branch's trilogy, which sharply limns the generosity of Harry Belafonte, who virtually bankrolled the movement, the quixotic idealism and complicated personal life of Bayard Rustin, the quiet courage of Bob Moses, the fiery sermons of James Bevel, and the unflinching courage of John Lewis. At the same time, it also paints the vacillation and political calculation of the Kennedys and the monomania of J. Edgar Hoover. Indeed, even Eugene "Bull" Connor seems to have human qualities compared to the demonic intensity and Machiavellian scheming of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose anti-Communist fantasies not only led him to persecute the Civil Rights movement but also to ignore the real dangers of organized crime.

As the book closes with the March on Washington and the assassination of JFK, one looks forward to climbing the mountaintop at an ever accelerating pace in the two subsequent volumes.(less)

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Jul 29, 2012 Neil White rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I started reading this book, I hadn't yet been hired to my current employer, Bush was still president, and there was no such thing as an iPhone. It was January of 2006, and the third volume of Taylor Branch's trilogy had just been released, piquing my curiosity enough to check out the first volume.

Six and a half years and a thousand massive textbook-sized pages later, I'm finally laying this massive tome to rest. It didn't take me this long because it was bad - quite the opposite - it was j...more When I started reading this book, I hadn't yet been hired to my current employer, Bush was still president, and there was no such thing as an iPhone. It was January of 2006, and the third volume of Taylor Branch's trilogy had just been released, piquing my curiosity enough to check out the first volume.

Six and a half years and a thousand massive textbook-sized pages later, I'm finally laying this massive tome to rest. It didn't take me this long because it was bad - quite the opposite - it was just MASSIVE and exhaustive in every sense of the word. But in the end it was worth it, because I say without hyperbole that this is easily of the best and most important works of nonfiction I've ever read. The scope of my effort to finish this huge brick was huge, but it pales in comparison to the effort of Mr. Branch to write this thing - I've never encountered anything so huge in scope and minute in detail at the same time. He's equally adept at illustrating the shifting cultural landscape of America and the larger world in the mid-fifties and sixties, and at the same time it seems as if he himself was in the room with Dr. King, Bayard Rustin, Stanley Levison and the other movers and shakers of the Civil Rights movement. And to think that after 1000 pages, he's only a third done with the story is mind-boggling. This volume shows King's early years, going from his first sermons and time at Crozer Theological Seminary to his rise to the forefront of the civil rights movement, taking the reader up to the twin landmark events of 1963 - The March On Washington and Kenndy's assassination.

This is not, however, a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., and there are stretches where he seems barely present, such as the beginnings of the Birmingham demonstrations in early 1963. His "Letter From A Birmingham Jail" is widely remembered now seemingly as a cornerstone of that particular movement, but in reality King was not heavily involved at first, and it actually wasn't until later in the year after it's widespread publication that it became retroactively known as such. This attention to detail and resistance to heavy-handed symbolism of events and people is another admirable quality of this book. He does not hesitate to display the faults of the major players, King and Kennedy included, but he isn't going out of his way to be an iconoclast either. One gets the sense that Branch is actually telling it like it is - warts and all. The sometimes petty infighting and ugly politics, both between the different organizations involved in the movement, as well as between King and the White House and between Hoover's FBI and everyone - these are all present, as well as the glorious victories and crushing defeats. And although this volume ends with an assassination, there are silver linings present as well. King's "I Have A Dream" speech has brought him into the national consciousness like never before, and eliminated many doubts and rumors about his potential communist subversion, replacing them for many with anything from anything from passive approval to outright acknowledgement of patriotism. Kennedy, who Branch portrays as more prone to placation than to actual seismic Civil Rights legislation and often stuck between a rock and several hard places, is being eulogized by the entire country, and the Civil Rights legislation comes forward as a fitting tribute to his legacy. Johnson, a believer in Civil Rights, is entering the White House looking to preserve and extend Kennedy's legacy, and at the same time itching for a fight with Congress. Things are moving in the right direction, but there's plenty of fight left.

If you're looking for a quick overview of MLK or the Civil Rights movement, this is absolutely not it. There are plenty of those out there that don't take years to read. (I must say I wasn't constantly reading this the entire time - many gaps were had.) However, if one of the most dynamic and seismic times in American history interests you to the point where you want to read about the landmark shift of King's "Dream" speech, as well as the conversations he had over breakfast that morning, it doesn't get much better than this. This took longer to read than any book I can ever remember reading, but the time spent was absolutely worth it, and I'm looking forward to volume two.(less)

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99199.Parting_the_Waters?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1332554654l/99199.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99199.Parting_the_Waters?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63 by Taylor Branch[/url]

Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63 (America in the King Years #1)

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