This is part three in a three volume biography about Martin Luther King, Jr. I wish I had time to go back and read the first two volumes before reading this but even without reading them this solid work will stand on it's own in chronicaling the last few years of King's life and how these events shaped the civil rights movement. Particularly engrossing were the descriptions of the marches and the author did a good job of capturing the mood and tension of the moment. I especially liked picking out details about many of the early civil rights leaders still around and active in today's political landscape.

This trilogy is the most impressive piece of historical scholarship I've ever read (though Foner's Reconstruction is a close second). You could not ask for a more comprehensive and compulsively readable account of the Civil Rights Movement. I'm moved and inspired.

Along with its two predecessors, required reading for anyone that wants to try to understand what has made America.

excellent epilogue

I'm constantly astonished when I read about the civil rights movement about how much they accomplished despite all the disarray and setbacks. Even as the movement was falling apart and threatened by violence in Memphis in 68, King never gave up hope or his belief in non-violence. I believe that is what sustained him and the movement. How much more would have been accomplished if Johnson had not been distracted and obsessed with the Vietnam war or King had not been hounded by Hoover and the FBI or, for that matter, if King had not been assassinated? This book, in fact the whole trilogy, is eye-opening and makes you wonder about what it will take to move this country forward from this point in the area of civil rights. I almost wish there was a sequel on what happened to the civil rights movement after King's death. In some ways the book falls into the single man theory of history, that individuals make an enormous difference in the course of history, and there is no question that King did make an enormous contribution, but the movement is bigger than one individual. Even though we don't have an MLK today showing us the way, we have plenty of new civil rights leaders and many old ones (like John Lewis) still fighting against discrimination. And we have new civil rights issues and fights like for LGBT rights, transgender rights, etc. And the fight for the poor and against poverty in this country still has a long way to go. Reading this trilogy has helped encourage me in that fight.

Great Book if you are looking for facts and dates. There is little narrative to this discussion so if you are not familiar with all the players you will get confused and bored quickly. I couldn't finish it.

This last book in Taylor Branch's trilogy is awfully good. I was particularly enlightened by his attention to detail and ability to weave so many desperate strands of the story together. I had also just shown my classes Eyes on the Prize, Episode 6: Bridge to Freedom (1965) and the movie Selma. Reading the book at the same time let me pass on enlightening pieces of information.

A painful and powerful read. I spent the last few months reading the three books in this trilogy and am so glad I did. Great insight into many of the big players during this turbulent time. The distressing part is how far we still have to go...too much of this is just as appropriate today as it was 50 years ago.

Having finished this massive three volume history of the civil rights era, I can say I’ve learned a lot. The only drawback, for me, was Branch’s convoluted writing style. He often buries the lede of his paragraphs, states key facts passively, and often changes the subject completely mid-paragraph.

Credit for the fight for civil rights goes to far more figures than just King, who seemed to fall into the role of leadership more than seeking to assume it. But he accomplished more with his Gandhi-derived method of non-violence than his rivals and critics. Some of those rivals were more interesting people to read about than the stead, mostly serious-minded King: Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, etc.

The more I read about Lyndon Johnson, the more I admire him, and the more I read about Bobby Kennedy, the less I like him. But the sections that deal with these two, and with the malevolent and malignant J. Edgar Hoover, are fascinating.

The main lesson to draw from these books is that King’s non-violent protests accomplished far more than all the violence in Vietnam, which accomplished less than nothing.

I sped through this thanks to Branch's terrific writing, but I'm ashamed to admit that looking back I don't remember all that much. Will definitely need to reread in the future.