3 Review(s)

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.