Pillar of Fire

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch, the second part of his epic trilogy on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement. In the second volume of his three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began with Parting the Waters, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Taylor Branch portrays the Civil Rights Movement at its zenith, recounting the climactic struggles as they commanded the national stage. Beginning with the Nation of Islam and conflict over racial separatism, Pillar of Fire takes the reader to Mississippi and Alabama: Birmingham, the murder of Medgar Evers, the "March on Washington," the Civil Rights Act, and voter registration drives. In 1964, King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Branch's magnificent trilogy makes clear why the Civil Rights Movement, and indeed King's leadership, are among the nation's enduring achievements. In bringing these decades alive, preserving the integrity of those who marched and died, Branch gives us a crucial part of our history and heritage.

Taylor Branch is the bestselling author of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63; Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65; At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968; and The Clinton Tapes. He has won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Contents Preface to Pillar of Fire PART ONE BIRMIGHAM TIDES 1 Islam in Los Angeles 2 Prophets in Chicago 3 LBJ in St. Augustine 4 Gamblers in Law 5 To Vote in Mississippi: Advance by Retreat 6 Tremors: L.A. to Selma 7 Marx in the White House 8 Summer Freeze 9 Cavalry: Lowenstein and the Church 10 Mirrors in Black and White 11 Against All Enemies 12 Frontiers on Edge: The Last Month PART TWO NEW WORLDS PASSING 13 Grief 14 High Councils 15 Hattiesburg Freedom Day 16 Ambush 17 Spreading Poisons 18 The Creation of Muhammad Ali 19 Shaky Pulpits 20 Mary Peabody Meets the Klan 21 Wrestling with Legends 22 Filibusters 23 Pilgrims and Empty Pitchers 24 Brushfires PART THREE FREEDOM SUMMER 25 Jail Marches 26 Bogue Chitto Swamp 27 Beachheads 28 Testing Freedom 29 The Cow Palace Revolt 30 King in Mississippi 31 Riot Politics 32 Crime, War, and Freedom School 33 White House Etiquette 34 A Dog in the Manger: The Atlantic City Compromise 35 "We see the giants..." 36 Movements Unbound PART FOUR "LORD, MAKE ME PURE -- BUT NOT YET" 37 Landslide 38 Nobel Prize 39 To the Valley: The Downward King 40 Saigon, Audubon, and Selma Epilogue Acknowledgments Abbreviations Used in Source Notes Notes Major Works Cited in Notes Index