Parting the Waters

America in the King Years, Part I - 1954-63

By: Taylor Branch

Narrated by: CCH Pounder, Joe Morton

In Parting the Waters, the first volume of his essential America in the King Years series, Pulitzer Prize winner Taylor Branch gives a “compelling…masterfully told” (The Wall Street Journal) account of Martin Luther King’s early years and rise to greatness.

Hailed as the most masterful story ever told of the American civil rights movement, Parting the Waters is destined to endure for generations.

Moving from the fiery political baptism of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the corridors of Camelot where the Kennedy brothers weighed demands for justice against the deceptions of J. Edgar Hoover, here is a vivid tapestry of America, torn and finally transformed by a revolutionary struggle unequaled since the Civil War.

Taylor Branch provides an unsurpassed portrait of King's rise to greatness and illuminates the stunning courage and private conflict, the deals, maneuvers, betrayals, and rivalries that determined history behind closed doors, at boycotts and sit-ins, on bloody freedom rides, and through siege and murder.

Epic in scope and impact, Branch's chronicle definitively captures one of the nation's most crucial passages.©1998 Taylor Branch, All Rights Reserved; (P)1998 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.

Critic reviews

"Right out of the pages of our lives....Compelling portraits, placed in the excitement of a period when oppressed and powerless people moving together changed themselves and their country profoundly and permanently."

-- Eleanor Holmes Norton, The New York Times Book Review

Outstanding story well told.

This is the best audio book reading gets.
The story rings with truth and behind the scenes detail. The narration by two people is the best I’ve heard. Renewed my hope for future downloads.

Powerful...Moving!!

The details of this historic movement are riveting and moving. The right people at the right time doing the right thing.

Eloquent and Riveting

This book was fascinating! I learned details of events only mentioned or never mentioned in history books. Detailed it was, but it never lagged. I can't wait to listen to the next volume of Branch's work. I am a history teacher of mostly white students in South Carolina. This book will greatly enhance my teaching of the Civil Rights Movement. For that I am most grateful.

Great underlying work, but poorly abridged

Great storytelling & performance, but would prefer that audible provided a full version. The abridgement resulted in an uneven pace, you can really feel the gaps.

A geat series

I agree with the previous reviewer. Great book lousy sound.
I've listened to the Taylor Branch trilogy about King and regard it as the most balanced telling of one of America's most important stories. I was inspired by the courage of so many, mostly unknown, people. Black, white, old, young, Jewish, Christian etc. etc. I'm not an American and I'm not a person of color, but the story of the US civil rights movement and the capacity of the USA to grow and change, makes me glad to have you guys as neighbours.