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NYS Writers Institute, March 28, 2006 Co-sponsred by New York State Library and Friends of the NYS Library
"The engrossing final installment of Branch's three-volume biography… gives us not only the civil rights leader's life but also the rapidly changing pulse of American culture and politics. The America we find in this last chapter of King's life is on fire--the Republican Party has begun to court white Southern voters; the Civil Rights movement itself has fractured; and King sees bold challenges to his teaching of nonviolence in the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles. King himself has evolved, spreading his interests beyond civil rights to become a more outspoken critic of the Vietnam War and of poverty." - "Publishers Weekly" (starred review) Branch received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Christopher Award, and the "Los Angeles Times" Book Award for the first volume in the trilogy, "Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963" (1988). The book was also named a "Best Book of the Year" by the "New York Times" and "Boston Globe."
A second volume, "Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1965" (1997), appeared nearly ten years later. "a magisterial history of one of the most tumultuous periods in postwar America. Branch's scholarship is strong, his storytelling colorful…. Reading Branch, it is easier to see why even the most remarkable revolutions are never complete." - "Newsweek"
In 1991, Branch was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship for his contributions to American history. Additional Links: For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.
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