nonfiction/narrative biographical history. [Pulitzer 26] pastor politicking, civil rights strategizing, Red spies, and dealing with hatred (violent murders, attacks, and bombings) from your neighbors/fellow citizens. ( )

This is the first of Taylor Branch’s magnificent three-volume chronicle of the civil rights movement and the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Each volume takes its title from aspects of the Old Testament’s Book of Exodus.

This volume discusses the influences upon MLK, Jr., including Reinhold Niebuhr, Gandhi, and Billy Graham. Branch reveals details about the interactions of King with other civil rights leaders and with the political leaders of the time, in particular, the Kennedys.

In spite of the length and detail of these three books, Branch manages to imbue his narrative with interest and excitement. It is quite simply never boring, and is essential reading for students of American history. ( )

The Civil Rights movement did not come overnight. It was decades in the making. Parting the Waters is probably the best written history of the early days of the civil rights movement. Taylor Branch goes back before
MLK came to Montgomery to set the scene. It's publication has changed the nature and tone of the books that have come after it. Taylor Branch tells the story of a movement that was based on black communities banding together to seek change. The first of three volumes, it is book that, as
we move further away from that era, deserves careful reading. ( )

Taylor Branch makes the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the primary focus of this first volume,
while he illuminates the faith and strength of the many brave, daring, and controversial men and women who supported,
inspired and sustained him. That Dr. King did not always do the same for them is an example of the author's extensive
research, sparing no one, Black or White, male or female, rich or poor, Baptist or Atheist, radical or conservative - from the Kennedys to King -
to examine
fault lines, evil, and greatness.

From Vernon Johns and Stanley Levison to Robert Moses, Bayard Rustin, and John Lewis, all are heroes!

Taylor Branch moves with understated eloquence and honesty as he relates how kids were risking their lives
in pursuit of FREEDOM while their rich religious elders and the liberal establishment in Washington created
a violent farce for white racists to gloat over. They could continue to murder, then sue the survivors for creating a disturbance.

Questions: Did MLK ever help those men he was imprisoned with? He gave them a promise.

Why did Eisenhower do so little to help?

and, most important, would Dr. King have sent his own children out to face the deadly hoses and the snarling dogs?
The "Children's March" that saved The South could so easily have turned into the Bull Connor/George Wallace Children's Massacre.

Would King and the other pacifist leaders have confronted the men who sent that little girl rolling down the street?

How did the rich northern Baptist churches justify themselves when so many African Americans in the South
faced lives of near-starvation, poverty, and no schools, doctors, or hospitals?

The author 'parts the waters' is so many ways, revealing the lame and dangerous excuses the Kennedys offered for their refusals
to send in the desperately needed federal forces to end and prevent the violence and murders of those merely seeking to register to vote.
Where was the promised "Voter Protection?!?"
And why did the Baptist leaders waste so much time and money on ridiculous confrontations
like the Taylor Preacher fracas? Again, Taylor Branch spares no fools.

What could be improved are the confusingly marked photographs, notably the first set. ( )

Well deserving for 100 New Classics designation. Told in a conversational style with rich details that provide a history lesson and an understanding of individuals that made history. It takes skill, courage, and perseverance to write a book of this magnitude. It was not always comfortable to read the events and the actions, but I appreciate the historical education from reading and thinking about these events and people. Kudos to the author for writing with such clarity and boldness. ( )