About the Program
In this Encore Booknotes from 1998, author and historian Taylor Branch discusses "Pillar of Fire," the second volume of his "America in the King Years" trilogy. "Pillar of Fire" is a narrative history of the Civil Rights era, covering the years 1963 to 1965. The book is centered on Martin Luther King, Jr. and his struggle to hold the nonviolent movement together. Mr. Branch conducted fifteen years of research involving archival investigation, nearly two thousand interviews and primary sources including FBI wiretaps and White House telephone recordings.