Civil Rights and the US 1953-1968

[rhadin]

Taylor Branch's trilogy -- Parting the Waters (vol 1), Pillar of Fire (vol 2), and At Canaan's Edge (vol 3) -- is an excellent history of the years 1953 to 1968 in the United States through the eyes of the civil rights movement. The books focus on the civil rights movement and the efforts made to contain the movement by whites, both segregationists and nonsegrationists.

The books also chronicle the half-hearted attempts made by the Kennedys to bring about civil rights and the herculean efforts of J. Edgar Hoover to cast the movement as communistic.

The trilogy explores these problems and the internecine disputes between the various civil rights organizations and the active dislike of Martin Luther King Jr by many civil rights activists. Also explored are MLK's emotional problems with the various demands being placed on him as a reluctant movement leader.

These books are recommended to anyone who is interested in the civil rights movement, that era of history in the United States, or MLK.

The books are available at Sony ($12.59, $10.79, $12.59 for volumes 1, 2, and 3 respectively), Fictionwise ($15.29/13.76, $10.19/9.17, $15.29/13.76 club/rebate), Books on Board ($16.19, $10.79, $16.19), and Kindle ($9.99, $9.59, $9.99).