At Canaan's Edge

America in the King Years 1965-68

By: Taylor Branch

Narrated by: Joe Morton

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

At Canaan's Edge concludes America in the King Years, a three-volume history that will endure as a masterpiece of storytelling on American race, violence, and democracy. Pulitzer Prize-winner and best-selling author Taylor Branch makes clear in this magisterial account of the civil rights movement that Martin Luther King, Jr., earned a place next to James Madison and Abraham Lincoln in the pantheon of American history.

In At Canaan's Edge, King and his movement stand at the zenith of America's defining story, one decade into an epic struggle for the promises of democracy. Branch opens with the authorities' violent suppression of a voting-rights march in Alabama on March 7, 1965. The quest to cross Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge engages the conscience of the world, strains the civil rights coalition, and embroils King in negotiations with all three branches of the U.S. government.

The marches from Selma coincide with the first landing of large U.S. combat units in South Vietnam. The escalation of the war severs the cooperation of King and President Lyndon Johnson after a collaboration that culminated in the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.

At Canaan's Edge portrays King at the height of his moral power even as his worldly power is waning. It shows why his fidelity to freedom and nonviolence makes him a defining figure long beyond his brilliant life and violent end.

At Canaan's Edge is the third volume in Taylor Branch's three-volume history, America in the King Years. Don't miss Parting the Waters or Pillar of Fire.

©2006 Taylor Branch (P)2006 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Audioworks is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division.

Critic reviews

• National Book Critics Circle 2006 Award Finalist, Biography

"It is a thrilling book, marvelous in both its breadth and its detail. There is drama in every paragraph." (The New York Times Book Review)
"This magisterial book is a fitting tribute to a magisterial man." (Publishers Weekly)

Required Reading

This book should be required reading for every African American regardless of age.
Martin Luther King will always be larger than life. This book screams why that is so with so many important details that may be missed otherwise.

A tremendous trilogy

This is a tremendous trilogy. That takes you through the story of MLK and the civil rights movement. A terrific audiobook.

Essential reading, to understand 21st Century social/political events

The trilogy on the Martin Luther King Jr years, written by Taylor Branch, is a thoroughly detailed study of the transitional 1960s. Even for those of us who were activists for social, racial, and gender equality, there were important facts revealed in the 3 books, that were not known at the time to the general public.Having lived the years of idealistic protest, and living now during Black Lives Matter, I think the trilogy, of which this is the third book, should be required reading for all high school students.

painful history

painful history. important to know. a great deal of detail. wort your time y listen

I hate abridged books

I listened to unabridged versions of the first two volumes of this work and loved every word. This was got very confusing and I missed the detail. I have the book and I guess I'll have to read it. Never again will I try abridged versions.

I hate abridged books!

I’ve both read and listened to both of the previous volumes in this trilogy and this is atrocious. It is even worse that customers are not notified that this is an abridgment except in small print.

tragically abridged

compared to the unabridged 1st and 2nd volume of the trilogy, this sounds and feels like a third of the book is missing.

the first two audio book volumes are great, but I suggest you pass on this one.