Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-64

This second of Branch's three-part work is wonderful. This book details the relationship between Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and other African-American Civil Rights groups better than any book I have read. The author is at his best when discussing the political movement MLK, rather than the personal MLK. But, this book is not a biography of MLK. It is, as the first, a history of a time period set around an influential individual, in this case, Dr. Martin Luther King. This book brings to life, the movement for equality, after it had broken out of its infancy to become of powerful force of civil and political change. This book is a must read for the reader who is interested in the civil rights movement!

I have read both of Mr. Branch's book and while this is the first book of this size and type that I've read I couldn't put it down. It is excellent through and through. If you have any interest in this time period and subject, get this book and his other "Parting the Waters".

Taylor Branch has written an epic novel (yes, Mr. I Left It On a Plane, this is a novel!), which gives the "inside scoop" on three critical years of the civil rights movement. As a high school history teacher, I found this book not only a fascinating read (though, don't get me wrong, not "easy" like reading Grisham or some such pap)but one which made me go "oh, THAT's why that happened" many times over. For example, the question of why the Republican Party in 1964 ceased (forever?) to be the Party of Lincoln...or what kind of pressures were on LBJ and MLK to support each other and yet not be SEEN as supporting each other...or what exactly WAS the deal with Malcolm X's rift with the Black Muslims...or dozens of other questions finally, comprehensively, and interestingly answered!

This book not only covers the height of King's work, but also the events surrounding the assassination of Malcolm X with great detail. Read this, and you might begin to doubt Spike Lee's version of events in his 1992 film on Malcolm X.This is not supposed to be a novel. It is not an easy read. This is NOT a watered down history book. People who want the light stuff, please refer to the books by Tom Brokaw or William Bennett.

I now have the difficult task of deciding if Pillar of Fire is, in fact, a better book than Taylor Branch's masterful predecessor volume, Parting the Waters. It has been almost 10 years since Parting the Waters was published, and I had waited with growing impatience for the second of Branch's three volume history of the civil rights movement. It is well worth the wait. Mixing an eye for telling detail with a gift for placing those details in context, Pillar is propulsively readable and informative. The years have dulled our recollection of the horrors that were visited upon the brave people, young and old, who broke the back of Jim Crow in the early 60's. Pillar of Fire and Parting the Waters should be required reading for those who suggest that the grievances of Black Americans are largely imagined. The recitations of the evils of the Hoover FBI, alone, are instructive as to the abuses of power that infested that agency during Hoover's reign. READ THIS BOOK!