Scan barcode
renab's review
5.0
Offers excellent insight and context into the life and vision of Malcolm X. I loved also learning about his relationships with important influences (his personal and influencers in the social justice movement). I listened to the audiobook.
drbooknerd's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This was a long overdue read for my to-read shelf - I'm so glad I go this one in - and yes, I read it from late 2022 to early 2023 - but it's been a busy time in my life. Anyways, I had read well-known Autobiography of Malcolm X over a decade (maybe even 2 at this point lol). When I first heard about this book, I was thinking - will this discredit that beloved book?
The answer is easy: not at all. That book has it's place being directly from the legendary Alex Haley and Malcolm himself. Yes, there are some limits to an autobiography and I feel this book just brings a complete picture to the man and the legend that is Malcolm.
This book was so comprehensive and it's so sad that Les didn't live to see the completion and publication of his book, but his daughter completed his legacy and brought into the world. Of course, I had followed the news when the original men who had been arrested for Malcolm's murder, were exonerated, but I had never dived into the details. It's the backstory of that fateful day and of course, other early important events in Malcolm's life at every stage, that this book does so much justice to - including the secret NOI meeting with the KKK that Malcolm was a part of, that I don't think I was aware of until I read this book. The details that this work makes you feel deeply immersed in Malcolm's life and it's that level of detail that makes this such a poignant book. Also, I had no idea that Malcolm had answered a set of questions from the Islamic Center of Geneva less than 24 hours before his death - this is after the epilogue. That was a beautiful way to end this work.
Long story short - this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to know the full story of this beloved figure - of course, reading about the minute to minute moments after he is gunned down and even the dry run from the plotters, and the role of the federal govt / FBI was heart-breaking, though we all know they played a role in eliminating many of the civil rights leaders of the time.....I thought, as I have in the past - what if Malcolm had lived to be about 70 (that would bring him into the mid-90s), how much could he have accomplished and how he could have guided us in dealing with human and African American rights? Alas, it's those that are with us for a short time on this Earth, that often leave a great, long-lasting legacy - and Malcolm has done just that.
Highly recommend this to all readers interested in knowing more about Malcolm, American history and the civil rights movement and understanding him in a more complete manner.
The answer is easy: not at all. That book has it's place being directly from the legendary Alex Haley and Malcolm himself. Yes, there are some limits to an autobiography and I feel this book just brings a complete picture to the man and the legend that is Malcolm.
This book was so comprehensive and it's so sad that Les didn't live to see the completion and publication of his book, but his daughter completed his legacy and brought into the world. Of course, I had followed the news when the original men who had been arrested for Malcolm's murder, were exonerated, but I had never dived into the details. It's the backstory of that fateful day and of course, other early important events in Malcolm's life at every stage, that this book does so much justice to - including the secret NOI meeting with the KKK that Malcolm was a part of, that I don't think I was aware of until I read this book. The details that this work makes you feel deeply immersed in Malcolm's life and it's that level of detail that makes this such a poignant book. Also, I had no idea that Malcolm had answered a set of questions from the Islamic Center of Geneva less than 24 hours before his death - this is after the epilogue. That was a beautiful way to end this work.
Long story short - this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to know the full story of this beloved figure - of course, reading about the minute to minute moments after he is gunned down and even the dry run from the plotters, and the role of the federal govt / FBI was heart-breaking, though we all know they played a role in eliminating many of the civil rights leaders of the time.....I thought, as I have in the past - what if Malcolm had lived to be about 70 (that would bring him into the mid-90s), how much could he have accomplished and how he could have guided us in dealing with human and African American rights? Alas, it's those that are with us for a short time on this Earth, that often leave a great, long-lasting legacy - and Malcolm has done just that.
Highly recommend this to all readers interested in knowing more about Malcolm, American history and the civil rights movement and understanding him in a more complete manner.
melissaamy7's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Great companion book to the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Les Payne’s thirty years of research and interviews really pays off.
cbrosen610's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
I started this years ago in print, and read about half of it, but never finished. Decided to finish it on audio — super interesting. I knew very little about the Nation of Islam and embarrassingly little about Malcolm X besides the common knowledge things. Really well researched and written biography.
kevin_shepherd's review
5.0
“The French people have placed the negro soldier in France on an equality with the white man, and it has gone to their heads.” ~Woodrow Wilson, 1919
Malcolm X was a brilliant, courageous badass who saw American Christianity as an obstacle to equality and justice...
“[Malcolm] launched a frontal assault upon the New Testament promise of the “hereafter” so widely accepted by Negroes, religious or not. Malcolm flatly dismissed all chances of human postmortem reward, proclaiming that there would be “no Heaven beyond the grave.” A few in the audience gasped. American Negroes, “the lost sheep,” Malcolm thundered, would progress only when they forsook the Christian yearning for the hereafter and devote themselves to Muslim concerns for the right-down here and now.” (pg 314)
And why not rebel against the same articles of faith that were cited time and time again to justify slavery? Why not rebel against the same scripture that was interpreted as “proof” of white supremacy? Why not throw off the yoke that helped maintain an unjust status quo?
“...Malcolm flogged Christianity up hill and down dale... he dismissed organized church enterprises as an insidious confidence game with a sad history of duping poor people the world over. He blistered high-living clergy for dressing in splendor while their parishioners struggled to put pork chops and collard greens on the table.” (pg 399)
Malcolm saw clearly that the Bible had become a tool of oppression, an instrument of hardship, used to elevate one race and subjugate another. What he couldn’t see, at least not until the twilight of his very short life, was that false prophets are everywhere...
“The spartan Malcolm could no longer suppress the realization that, like the Christian ministers he attacked, [Elijah] Muhammad and his Royal Family engaged in conspicuous consumption while presiding over a struggling, low-income, working-class flock.” (pg 399)
Let’s face it, we all know how this story ends. Malcolm, like Abraham, like John, like Martin, like Bobby, didn’t get to write the ending of his own story. Somebody else wrote it for him.
Authors Les and Tamara Payne document the evolution of an extraordinary life, and they do it beautifully and without undue reverence. Five stars.
Personal Note: My high regard for Malcolm always feels a little like cultural appropriation. I tread lightly out of respect and because I am aware that I will never know what it is like to grow up as a black man in America. All I can say is that I am striving to better understand that experience. -Kevin
Malcolm X was a brilliant, courageous badass who saw American Christianity as an obstacle to equality and justice...
“[Malcolm] launched a frontal assault upon the New Testament promise of the “hereafter” so widely accepted by Negroes, religious or not. Malcolm flatly dismissed all chances of human postmortem reward, proclaiming that there would be “no Heaven beyond the grave.” A few in the audience gasped. American Negroes, “the lost sheep,” Malcolm thundered, would progress only when they forsook the Christian yearning for the hereafter and devote themselves to Muslim concerns for the right-down here and now.” (pg 314)
And why not rebel against the same articles of faith that were cited time and time again to justify slavery? Why not rebel against the same scripture that was interpreted as “proof” of white supremacy? Why not throw off the yoke that helped maintain an unjust status quo?
“...Malcolm flogged Christianity up hill and down dale... he dismissed organized church enterprises as an insidious confidence game with a sad history of duping poor people the world over. He blistered high-living clergy for dressing in splendor while their parishioners struggled to put pork chops and collard greens on the table.” (pg 399)
Malcolm saw clearly that the Bible had become a tool of oppression, an instrument of hardship, used to elevate one race and subjugate another. What he couldn’t see, at least not until the twilight of his very short life, was that false prophets are everywhere...
“The spartan Malcolm could no longer suppress the realization that, like the Christian ministers he attacked, [Elijah] Muhammad and his Royal Family engaged in conspicuous consumption while presiding over a struggling, low-income, working-class flock.” (pg 399)
Let’s face it, we all know how this story ends. Malcolm, like Abraham, like John, like Martin, like Bobby, didn’t get to write the ending of his own story. Somebody else wrote it for him.
Authors Les and Tamara Payne document the evolution of an extraordinary life, and they do it beautifully and without undue reverence. Five stars.
Personal Note: My high regard for Malcolm always feels a little like cultural appropriation. I tread lightly out of respect and because I am aware that I will never know what it is like to grow up as a black man in America. All I can say is that I am striving to better understand that experience. -Kevin