New from Bloomsbury Press:
The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act, by Clay Risen. From the Press:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the single most important piece of
legislation passed by Congress in American history. This one law so
dramatically altered American society that, looking back, it seems
preordained—as Everett Dirksen, the GOP leader in the Senate and a key
supporter of the bill, said, “no force is more powerful than an idea
whose time has come.” But there was nothing predestined about the
victory: a phalanx of powerful senators, pledging to “fight to the
death” for segregation, launched the longest filibuster in American
history to defeat it.
The bill's passage has often been credited
to the political leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, or the moral
force of Martin Luther King. Yet as Clay Risen shows, the battle for the
Civil Rights Act was a story much bigger than those two men. It was a
broad, epic struggle, a sweeping tale of unceasing grassroots activism,
ringing speeches, backroom deal-making and finally, hand-to-hand
legislative combat. The larger-than-life cast of characters ranges from
Senate lions like Mike Mansfield and Strom Thurmond to NAACP lobbyist
Charles Mitchell, called “the 101st senator” for his Capitol Hill clout,
and industrialist J. Irwin Miller, who helped mobilize a powerful
religious coalition for the bill. The "idea whose time had come" would
never have arrived without pressure from the streets and shrewd
leadership in Congress--all captured in Risen's vivid narrative.
This critical turning point in American history has never been thoroughly explored in a full-length account. Now, New York Times editor and acclaimed author Clay Risen delivers the full story, in all its complexity and drama.
A few blurbs:
“What a compelling story for our times! Clay Risen’s riveting account
of the actual legislative history of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
reveals the infinite complexity of its passage, never certain until the
end. And for us now, Bill of the Century explains the crucial
roles played by many thousands inside and outside Washington, especially
civil rights campaigners and religious believers: ordinary citizens
galvanized into civic engagement. This book speaks to a broad readership
at our own critical point in American history.” –
Nell Irvin Painter
“The Bill of the Century
is edge-of-your-seat, as-it-happens history. It’s a thrill to read and
an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the civil rights era.
Clay Risen makes clear that the passage of the Civil Rights Act was
not, as popular mythology would have it, a one- or two-man show; it took
a movement in the truest sense. Risen renders that effort—and its
unsung heroes—in vivid prose, and shows just how much they had to
overcome, working together, in order to bend the arc of history toward
justice.” –
Jeff Shesol
Much more information is available here, at the author's website.
