Rating: 
Summary: important must read
Review: a dense history of civil rights activity from 1963-65, emphasizing the extraordinary amount of violence in the South. Vietnam lurks in the background as LBJ pushes the civil rights bill. martin luther king, jr. is around but the real heroes were risking their lives. a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: a very tedious read that does not match the book's hype
Review: After hearing this book hyped for months on Imus in the Morning, I bought it. What a mistake. One would think that, given the dramatic subject matter, this book ought to have read like a novel. Not even close. It was poorly structured, and none of the subject matter was put in any kind of context. I constantly had to go back and laboriously re-read every tortured sentence just to make some sense of what the author was talking about. None of the electricity or significance of the times came through. I found this to be one of the most poorly written books I've ever read. And it's not like I didn't give this book a chance. I was stuck on a flight from Chicago to Boston with nothing else to read, so I plowed through about 150 pages before I threw in the towel. I left the book on the plane for some unsuspecting fool to read. Don't bother with this one.
Rating: 
Summary: High Quality but not Branch's best
Review: As most other reviewers, I too was eager to get into Pillar of Fire after a friend recommended his first book to me, Parting the Waters. Although POF is an excellent, thoroughly written book by Branch, it just misses the superb quality of PTW. What PTW gave us about the backgrounds of the central figures and the story line of key incidents, I felt POF was missing some of that and that Branch just couldn't get himself out of the White House documents. Not that I'm trying to dimiss JFK and LBJ's civil rights commentary as frivilous, but I wanted more of the front line drama out of St. Augustine, Florida, Meridian, Mississippi and other hot spots. The other thing I wish Branch would have included was more about Malcom X's background and how he became a muslim in prison. Aside from my nit-picking, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read the third installment. Although the White House chapters were a bit too long at times, it was fascinating to learn of Hoover's under-handed tactics to try and quell the movement and hunt out the 'Communists' that influenced MLK. I guess we had our very own NKVD police force right here in America during Hoover's days in power. I had heard inklings of the black-mail suicide tape Hoover sent MLK and was glad Branch gave the full story. Another great aspect of Branch's writings is how he touches on all of the movement groups such as SNCC, CORE, SCLC, etc. Branch gives Bob Moses' actions in Mississippi the credit it deserves whereas so many other writers just seem to gloss over his contributions. Contrary to a few reviewer's complaints, Branch's writing style is NOT hard to follow (even though he jumps around quite a bit) and this is NOT a hard book to read. It reads like any other high-quality historical work so if you're expecting it to read like Harry Potter, you might want to stick to Brokaw's history books. Normally, I'd give a book like this five stars but because I know Branch can do better (like Parting the Waters), I can only give it four. On a side note, if any reader wants a better idea on who Taylor Branch is, check out Spike Lee's documentary "4 Little Girls" on the Birmingham church bombing. Branch does some commentary work in it.
Rating:
Summary: Brings that time to life!
Review: I have read both of Mr. Branch's book and while this is the first book of this size and type that I've read I couldn't put it down. It is excellent through and through. If you have any interest in this time period and subject, get this book and his other "Parting the Waters".
Rating: 
Summary: Through the Wilderness ...
Review: I loved 'Parting the Waters' so much that I was not surprised to be somewhat disappointed by its successor. I suppose that Branch just could not bring off the heroic drama of his earlier book. However, let it be said straight away, that on its own this stands as a worthy book on the fight against segregration from 1963 to 1965, encompassing roughly the years from the March on Washington to after the 'Freedom Summer' in Mississippi and the Selma confrontation in Alabama. On the minus side, I found the early chapters downright confusing. Several incidents overlap with the earlier book, so that there is some duplication, and repetition. In some cases detail seemed over-elaborate, in others matters seemed to skip along in cursory fashion. However, the chapters on the Freedom Summer and the Selma conflict are up to the standard of 'Parting the Waters'. Unfortunately, this begins halfway through the book, and it was only then I felt the same fascination with the earlier work. Narrative history has its problems - the writer convering a large subject must capture the epic sweep, while also the flavour of individual experience. Branch captured this magnificently in 'Parting'. In particularly, the student of the SNCC together with Bob Moses are fascinating. King (and this was an issue I had with the earlier work) is a protagonist without any analysis - his character and achievements are taken for granted, so as a biographical assessment of a life, Branch is not adequate. However, I like the way 'villains' like J.Edgar Hoover did get their point of view, though in the case of this man, does anyone now see him as a colossus of law-enforcement, as his contemporaries did? A heavy hint of voyeurism arises from his obsession with King's sex life. All told, worth buying and worth reading, and we await with eager expectation the next volume.
Rating:
Summary: The finest non-fiction book since . . . Parting the Waters
Review: I now have the difficult task of deciding if Pillar of Fire is, in fact, a better book than Taylor Branch's masterful predecessor volume, Parting the Waters. It has been almost 10 years since Parting the Waters was published, and I had waited with growing impatience for the second of Branch's three volume history of the civil rights movement. It is well worth the wait. Mixing an eye for telling detail with a gift for placing those details in context, Pillar is propulsively readable and informative. The years have dulled our recollection of the horrors that were visited upon the brave people, young and old, who broke the back of Jim Crow in the early 60's. Pillar of Fire and Parting the Waters should be required reading for those who suggest that the grievances of Black Americans are largely imagined. The recitations of the evils of the Hoover FBI, alone, are instructive as to the abuses of power that infested that agency during Hoover's reign. READ THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Worth ploughing through
Review: I read this book after having read Parting the Waters a few years ago. Pillar of Fire book is a hard read but worth the effort if you want to know about the years being discussed. I was born in 61 in Canada and had no clue about what segregation meant. The anecdotes in Parting the Waters gave me a better idea of why this was such a big deal -- probably the lynch pin of modern American history. This second volume Pillar of Fire struck me with a different theme. Taylor Branch uses an artful juxtapositon and parallel of Malcom X and Martin Luther King. Playing these two men side by side helped me understand the strength of will it took to follow the path of non-violence on the part of King et al. The episodes of unrighteous racial oppression and police violence make your blood boil. On one hand we have Malcolm X --the man so like most of us -- who reacts in anger and speaks of vengance. In contrast we have Martin Luther King who holds true to the message of non-violence and in so doing probably saved our nation from much bloodshed later on. The laborious detail can be overwhelming but is probably necessary to drive home the point.
Rating:
Summary: This was the Best book I ever read.
Review: Omar I like the topic you picked to write on the book. I like the ways you express the words I think it's a great book for teens today. Omar keep up the good work and keep your head up.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book.
Review: One customer-reviewer (pjdecaprio@bkb.com) kindly left this on a plane for someone else to find. Lucky for that person. The first 40 pages alone are worth the price of the book, to get a deep understanding of how small events and misunderstandings can get blown out of proportion to tragic consequenses. I certainly did not expect this to read like a novel. I anticipated a rich, informed description of one of the most significant periods in contemporary history, and was amply rewarded by Mr. Branch's work. He is obviously passionate about the subject, but maintains detachment. And only by reading Representative John Lewis's book, "Walking with the Wind", did I come to know of Mr. Branch's involvement in the movement. He doesn't toot his own horn, but rather gives a wonderfully rich, compellingly written, moving account of one of the USA's greatest social achievments. Thank you, Mr. Branch. Now, finish up the third one!
Rating:
Summary: Mr Branch loses his way
Review: Parting The Waters won the Pulitzer Prize, and deservedly so. But whereas PTW starts slowly (with Dr. King's upbringing, education, and entry into public life) and builds to the the Children's March (as heart-wrenching as any battlefield story), "Pillar" seems to wander aimlessly through the next two years without much emotional involvement. The events leading up to the assasination of Malcom X are matter-of-fact, and the deed itself is almost an afterthought. Having said all that, "Pillar" is still an excellent account of those years, just not the brilliant narrative its predecessor was.
| 
