The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act

I was lucky enough to get access to an advanced copy of Mr. Risen's new book and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Much as he did in his previous book, A Nation on Fire: America In The Wake of the King Assassination, Mr. Risen gives the reader an astonishing degree of depth and detail, often tracing the arc of various events on a day-by-day basis. Such detail provides a terrifically immersive experience for the reader, at times even giving the impression of being a "fly on the wall" at pivotal historical moments, and hints at an enormous degree of research by the author. The complex political maneuverings that were required for passage of the Civil Rights Bill are a fascinating study of motives, power plays, favors being offered and called in, and outright arm-twisting among a numerous and vastly disparate set of individuals, organizations, and constituencies that trumps anything you'd find in House of Cards. Furthermore, Risen does an excellent job of putting this bill, its creation, and its passage, in historical context, as well as analyzing its myriad impacts. This is an essential read for anyone interested in the Civil Rights Movement, as well as anyone with a passion for American history.

As Risen points out early in the book, when we think of past great legislation or movements, we tend to credit a president or other leading figure as the driving force behind its success. This credit may be justified to a degree, but the role of this leader tends to be over-stated. Certainly, the civil rights legislation during Johnson's term would never have been possible without his support. But a president faces many priorities at the same time, and the realities of politics force him to compromise and prioritize in order to serve many needs.Bill of the Century beautifully clarifies this political conundrum, while giving us a much clearer picture of the many actions - over several years - that led to eventual passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, while introducing us to the major players both pro and con who were involved in shaping the final bill and advancing or retarding its forward momentum. And while the major events of this story take place in the early 1960's, they tell us a great deal about the blue state/red state issues we face in today's politics.

Fantastic. A must read. This book showed how lay people, decent GOP Congressman such as Ohio's forgotten Rep. Bill McCulloch, as well as JFK and LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights bill, the bill that changed America for the better and made us live up to our stated goal of equality for all. Although this book makes LBJ look less influential in passing the Civil Rights Act, you see his heavy behind the scenes lobbying. Unfortunately, this bill would not have passed today. While McCulloch and Sen. Ev Dirksen still clung to the idea of the GOP as heirs to Lincoln, the Southern Strategy, born out of Goldwater's "Nay" vote on this bill, now rules the GOP.

I loved how this book dug deep into Congress, as well as all of the legislative gymnastics required to get a bill such as this to the finish line.

This book gives a very detailed account of how the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was conceived and what it took to put it on the president's desk. The authors make a very explicit point against the great people history by outlining efforts of individual legislative and civic leaders, as well as the larger effort of many in the civil rights movement. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more books like this one, and at just a couple of dollars it's a steal!

I lived through the struggle for the Civil Rights Act but was busy bringing up a family so decided I needed to review some history on the subject. This book brings it all back to me and I fear that too many have forgotten what this struggle was all about. Recent racist remarks help me to realize that we still have racism in our country and maybe these people need to review history as well. This book could help.

A thoughtful, well-written history of how the bill(s) became law and much information on the alliances and coalitions that helped make passage possible. the author highlights the story with many "inside" pieces of information that I had not been aware of previously even though I have studied the era somewhat. Crediting the Justice Department and Humphrey as playing much larger and significant roles than LBJ, the story of how the bill passed remains fascinating to this day.

Countless authors give Lyndon Johnson the majority of the credit for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but Clay Risen demonstrates that Johnson played more of a supporting role to McCulloch, Humphrey, Dirksen and others. Important look into the true mechanics of how this bill became law.