Parting the Waters

America in the King Years, 1954-63

By: Taylor Branch

Narrated by: Joe Morton, CCH Pounder

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

This audio adaptation focuses primarily on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the key moments that defined his rise to the forefront of the civil rights movement. From Rosa Parks' monumental arrest in Montgomery to King's imprisonment in Birmingham and his triumphant march on Washington, Taylor Branch provides an unsurpassed portrait of King's rise to greatness. He illuminates the stunning courage and private conflict, the deals, maneuvers, betrayals, and rivalries that determined history behind closed doors, at boycotts and sit-ins, on bloody freedom rides, and through siege and murder.

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

©1998 Taylor Branch, All Rights Reserved (P)1998 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.

Critic Reviews

• Pulitzer Prize Winner, 1989, History

Badly/horribly abridged

Read the book and loved it; one of my alltime favorites. The abridged audio version, however, robbed this extraordinary story of much of what made the book great. The written book's power, in part, comes from Branch's movement between different levels of narrative, as he weaves details of MLK's life and the stories that surround him into the larger historical narrative that we think we all know. In the abridged audio version, the complexity and texture of many of those details are gone. Most egregiously, gone is the entire 240 page section from the start of the Montgomery bus boycott until 1962, including the relationship between the Eisenhower administration and civil rights and MLK, MLK's movement into the national spotlight, most of the background about the civil rights movement before MLK, Dubois, the NAACP, the momentous JFK call to Coretta Scott King when MLK was in jail and the start of the sit-in movement. Even the story of Rosa Parks is given short shrift.

Gone as well are the personal and social struggles involving nonviolence (James Lawson disappears, MLK loses his personal and theologic struggles over issues of justice and much of his reading of Niebuhr) and a myriad of details about MLK's early life (no church choir singing controversially at the debut of 'Gone With the Wind'), the role of Gandhism and church politics. The Rockefeller role in funding Spellman and Morehouse colleges is gone.

The effect is to make it seem that MLK's story only gets interesting when he becomes a player in J. Edgar Hoover's and JFK's and RFK's world of interagency rivalry and high politics. The written book made it clear that the world of Washington DC was only one of many settings in which meaning was made and, in fact, played the many levels of action off against each other beautifully. That beauty is gone from the abridged audiobook, as is the depth of historical understanding that the written book provided. Not worth my money.

Amazing account of King & Civil Rights Movement

First, the one negative: the sound quality is terrible.

But the content itself is terrific. Branch makes the Civil Rights Movement come vividly to life, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr becomes a fully realized person to the listeners. The narraration is well done, and the whole experience a good one -- apart from the lousy sound quality of the recording. (As of this review, it's only available in format 1, converted to format 2, but is very tinny and hard to hear in places like a car.)

A geat series

I agree with the previous reviewer. Great book lousy sound.
I've listened to the Taylor Branch trilogy about King and regard it as the most balanced telling of one of America's most important stories. I was inspired by the courage of so many, mostly unknown, people. Black, white, old, young, Jewish, Christian etc. etc. I'm not an American and I'm not a person of color, but the story of the US civil rights movement and the capacity of the USA to grow and change, makes me glad to have you guys as neighbours.

Wish Audible Offered the Unabridged Version

This is one of my favorite history books. I much prefer the unabridged version, however. In the abridged version the listener misses out on a lot of context and on the back stories of Diane Nash, James Bevel, Bob Moses, etc. The abridged version has the feel of jumping around and leaving gaps. However, it is still Taylor Branch so worth it in my opinion. I wish Audible offered the unabridged version, long as it is. I can't bear to listen to Pillar of Fire and At Canaan's Edge abridged as a first listen, so will I will borrow them from the library. I still give it 4 stars since the abridgement is not the author's fault and he is an excellent researcher.

Great book badly abridged

Would you consider the audio edition of Parting the Waters to be better than the print version?

This abridged version contains too little of the full book. The print version is admittedly a big book but it's not flabby. Too much meat was cut to fit this way-too-short audiobook. The short length not only omits critical and interesting information, it distortingly rushes the reader's perception of the history that played out across this decade from '54 to '63. A lot more fascinating things happened than you'd realize from hearing this version. Branch masterfully researched and wrote about them. You wouldn't know it from this audiobook.

Abridged version

This is an abridged version of the text with no rhyme or reason to the abridging. It seems that in the middle of important stories there is a skip to something else. This is not what I was looking for and finally stopped listening and went back and read the entire book instead gaining a large amount of important information. If you are looking for an abridged version then this will do otherwise you will need to get the text.

Powerful...Moving!!

The details of this historic movement are riveting and moving. The right people at the right time doing the right thing.

Great back story to today's racial troubles

Would you listen to Parting the Waters again? Why?

I would definitely listen to this book again, as there was so much rich content for further research.

What did you like best about this story?

I appreciated the slice of history as it centered around MLK. I have only read his writings, and not much history, so it was good to see him from another perspective.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The recollection of the March on Washington was superb.

Worth it but could have been so much more

This book is a masterpiece. The audio version was well presented. The story flowed and maintained interest. A more complete presentation of the book would greatly improve this product. The substantial abridgment simply does not do justice to the book.

Eye Opening

So much I knew and yet so much I did not. This was eye opening, heartbreaking in many way ways but so incredibly inspiring! While I understand better and now see enough to know I can never comprehend all.

AWFUL! A great book sliced to pieces

What disappointed you about Parting the Waters?

The problem with this book is the absolutely terrible abridgement. It isn't really abridged, but at best you are getting some parts of the book that talk about Martin Luther King Jr., perhaps a sample of the book. For instance, there is a great deal of detail on King's background and his arrival in Montgomery; Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus; King speaks to the protestors... then suddenly the narrative leaps forward from 1954 to 1962 and the Albany protests. There's no discussion of the progress of the bus boycott, no discussion of King's involvement in the founding of the SCLC, simply a void. The narrative informs us King is arrested AGAIN... but he has not been arrested before in this narrative... I thought there was something wrong with my download. What you get with this audiobook is much the equivalent of the preview of a kindle book. It gives you a flavour of the book but you can't really follow the book. To give a good sense of how much is missing: Gordon Wood's Empire of Liberty is around 778 pages and the audiobook is 30 hours 58 minutes; Parting the Waters is over 1000 pages but the audiobook is 6 hours 43 minutes. Perhaps you are getting 20% of the book. Is that an abridgement? The fact that this book is shown with reviews from Amazon and with the same title and cover as the print book and described as Pulitzer Prize winning is very misleading.

What will your next listen be?

Not an 'abridged' book!

Did Joe Morton and CCH Pounder do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

I didn't know they were supposed to be different characters. I found the switching backwards and forwards a little annoying, although I didn't find the audio quality as bad as some other people.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

ANGER at the publisher

Any additional comments?

This has taught me to do my homework before buying an abridged book. This series in print was excellent. Please get out an unabridged version soon!

Abridged beyond all recognition

This audio adaptation is a tiny fraction of the original book. Misleading marketing. I wish I could get my credit back.

An outstanding read

An outstanding read capturing so much content! This book has enhanced my knowledge on black history and in turn benefitted me for a lifetime.

Required listening

Necessary for anyone wanting to understand this period and the complexities of the struggle. Brilliant.

Disgraceful

This isn't the book as described. It's abridged so much that most of it is missing and key elements don't make sense