Taylor Branch

Parting the Waters established Taylor Branch as a national authority on America's civil rights movement. A movement, he realized, that could not be recounted in one volume.

He entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1964 and, though not directly involved with the Civil Rights Movement himself, he was unable to comprehend why blacks and whites were treated differently. Branch became fascinated by Dr. Martin Luther King while he was a student. King was assassinated in his Senior year.

After college Taylor Branch became a reporter and writer. He ghost-wrote John Dean's Blind Ambition. Parting the Waters took 4 years to write, and Pillar of Fire took nine years for him to finish. He is currently working on the third and final installment of the King Trilogy, At Canaan's Edge. Branch has been a good friend of President Clinton for over two decades and frequently advises him on racial matters.