The 1963 March on Washington is an iconic moment in American history. During the busiest year of the civil rights movement -- after the spring protests in Birmingham, there were more than 2,000 demonstrations across the U.S. -- the March brought together as many as half a million people to speak out for civil rights and economic opportunity. It was the only time that all civil rights organizations worked together on a major project. The March was capped by martin Luther King's stirring "I Have a Dream" oration, now considered the greatest speech of the twentieth century.

Now, for the first time, Charles Euchner presents the inside story of the March -- with intimate portraits of Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King
and John Lewis ... the behind-the-scenes battles over the organizing efforts ... the stories of the ordinary people who journeyed hundreds and even thousands of miles ... the backstories of protests in the old Confederacy and in the cities of the North ... the role of music in the movement ... and more.

"Nobody Turn Me Around: A People's History of the 1963 March on Washington" (Beacon Press, June 30, 2010) offers a vivid narrative of the civil rights movement at its peak. Less