Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65In Pillar of Fire, the second volume of his America in the King Years trilogy, Taylor Branch portrays the civil rights era at its zenith. The first volume, Parting the Waters, won the Pulitzer Prize for History. Pillar of Fire covers the far-flung upheavals of the years 1963 to 1965 - Dallas, St. Augustine, Mississippi Freedom Summer, LBJ's Great Society and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Vietnam, Selma. And it provides a frank, revealing portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. - haunted by blackmail, factionalism, and hatred while he tried to hold the nonviolent 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. Branch brings to bear fifteen years of research - archival investigation; nearly two thousand interviews; new primary sources, from FBI wiretaps to White House telephone recordings - in a seminal work of history. |
Contents
Islam in Los Angeles | 3 |
Prophets in Chicago | 21 |
LBJ in St Augustine | 33 |
Copyright | |
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Abernathy Alabama American Andrew Young April arrest asked Atlanta Audiotape Augustine Bevel Birmingham Bob Moses bombing Burke Marshall Chicago church civil rights bill COFO convention County Dahmer delegates DeLoach Democratic Director Elijah Muhammad FBI agents federal File FK-NR Florida Freedom Garrow Goldwater Greenwood Hattiesburg Heschel Hoover Ibid Islam Jack Pratt Jackson jail James James Bevel John Doar July June June 25 Justice Department Katzenbach King's Klan LBJ phone call leaders Lee White Levison LHM dated Malcolm Malcolm X March Martin Luther King mass meeting MFDP Mississippi movement Muslim NAACP Negro night nonviolent police political President Johnson President Kennedy race racial reporters Robert Kennedy Rustin saying SCLC segregation segregationist Selma Senate Sept Sheriff SNCC speech Sullivan summer tion told Vernon Dahmer Vietnam volunteers vote Wachtel Wallace Washington White House Williams York