Taylor Branch spent nearly 24 years researching and writing a three-volume biography of Martin Luther King Jr. The first book in Branch's series, Parting the Waters, won the Pulitzer Prize for history.
The final volume, At Canaan's Edge, focuses on the last three years of King's life. Branch joins Fresh Air to discuss these years, including King's attempts to bring the Civil Rights movement north, J. Edgar Hoover's efforts to discredit King, and the disagreement between advocates of nonviolence and those in favor of a more militant movement.
This interview originally aired on January 16, 2006.
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