How Martin Luther King, Jr. Lit Up the World

Journalist Taylor Branch says most histories of the African American civil rights movement written by white people are missing heart and context. He seeks to avoid this pitfall in his new book, Parting the Waters. Branch joins Fresh Air to discuss the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. in black churches, and how John F. Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover attempted to control him for their own ends.

Book critic John Leonard review Taylor Branch's new book about the Civil Rights era. Branch argues that the early 60s, until now identified as the Kennedy era, ought to be identified with Martin Luther King Jr.

During the eight years that Bill Clinton was president of the United States, he secretly recorded interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch.