First published 2006
Taylor Branch concludes his Pulitzer Prize winning civil rights trilogy by examining Martin Luther King Jr during his most challenging period. The narrative opens with King's leadership of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, where activists demanded voting rights protection. Branch documents King's complex relationship with President Lyndon Johnson, showing how their partnership advanced civil rights legislation while fracturing over Vietnam policy. The author traces King's growing opposition to the Vietnam conflict, which alienated both political allies and fellow civil rights leaders. Branch reveals how King expanded his focus beyond racial justice to economic inequality and war resistance. The book captures King's internal struggles as he faced mounting criticism from multiple directions. Former supporters questioned his antiwar stance while government surveillance intensified. Branch shows King grappling with violence within the movement and his own philosophy of nonresistance. The narrative follows King through labor disputes, poverty campaigns, and his final journey to Memphis. This volume reveals a leader wrestling with moral complexity while maintaining his commitment to justice and peace.
Genres: 20th-century, african-american, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-complexity, political-drama
Setting: Selma, Montgomery
Period: 1965
1056 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: violence