The final and probably the best of Branch's King years trilogy, this is also the hardest to read. That's not because it's not excellently written and presented, but because it covers such an ultimately tragic and demoralizing period. Essentially, it tells the story of the unraveling of the forces that succeeded in winning the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, poignantly placing side by side the strains affecting King and the movement along with Lyndon Johnson's demise due to Vietnam.