num_pages: 1064
description: First of a 3-volume social history, Parting the Waters is more than a biography of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the decade preceding his emergence as a national figure. This 1000-page effort, which won the Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction, profiles the key players &amp; events that helped shape the American social landscape following WWII but before the civil-rights movement of the 60s reached its climax. Branch then goes a step further, endeavoring to explain how the struggles evolved as they did by probing the influences of the main actors while discussing the manner in which events conspired to create fertile ground for change. Also analyzing the beginnings of black self-consciousness, this book maps the structure of segregation &amp; bigotry in America between '54 &amp; '63. The author considers the constantly changing behavior of those in Washington with regard to the injustice of offical racism operating in many states at this time.Forerunner: Vernon Johns Rockefeller and Ebenezer Niebuhr and the Pool TablesFirst Trombone The Montgomery Bus BoycottA Taste of the World The Quickening Shades of PoliticsA Pawn of HistoryThe Kennedy TransitionBaptism on Wheels The Summer of Freedom RidesMoses in McComb, King in Kansas City Almost Christmas in Albany Hoover's Triangle and King's MachineThe Fireman's Last Reprieve The Fall of Ole MissTo Birmingham Greenwood and Birmingham JailThe Children's Miracle Firestorm The March on Washington Crossing Over: Nightmares and Dreams
language: English
title: Parting the Waters
titlecomplete: Parting the Waters
characters: Martin Luther King Jr.
genres: American, Politics, Historical, Biography, Social Justice, Race, American History, African American, Nonfiction, History
ratings_count: 9590
series: America in the King Years
awards: awardedAt: 599644800000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: History, awardedAt: 599644800000
name: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, awardedAt: 599644800000
name: Ambassador Book Award
category: Biography, awardedAt: 599644800000
name: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
category: Current Interest, awardedAt: 568022400000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: General Nonfiction, awardedAt: 599644800000
name: Frederic G. Melcher Book Award, awardedAt: 599644800000
name: National Book Award Finalist
category: Nonfiction
publisher: Simon & Schuster (NYC)