Taylor Branch

Taylor Branch is a Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of many articles and books, mostly notably, America in the King Years, a magnificent history of the civil rights movement. This trilogy, which Mr. Branch began more than 20 years ago, started with Parting the Waters (a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award winner published in 1988), continued with Pillar of Fire (1998), and was completed with the release of At Canaan's Edge this past January. This Shakespearean epic has been described as a three-volume history that will endure as a masterpiece of storytelling on American race, violence, and democracy. Mr. Branch was last at Chautauqua in 1989 to present Parting the Waters for the Chautauqua Literary & Scientific Circle (CLSC). With his Amphitheater lecture, he will help Chautauqua honor Martin Luther King, Jr. as a giant in American history.