In Parting the Waters, Branch chronicles the Civil Rights struggle, from the twilight of the Eisenhower years through King's fiery political baptism, the ascension of John F Kennedy, and ultimately, the dawning of the New South. Moving from the black churches where the movement began in anthems, sermons, and prayers, to Washington, where the Kennedy brothers weighed the demands of a down-trodden people against the volatile realities of politics, Branch weaves a tapestry of exciting stories - the Montgomery bus boycott, the Freedom Rides, and - as the movement reached its apex - the tragedy of Kennedy's assassination. Taylor Branch is a former staff member of The Washington Monthly, Harper's, and Esquire. Co-author of Second Wind and Labyrinth, he is also the author of a novel The Empire Blues.