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A review by tzurky
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne, Tamara Payne
5.0
If you’re looking for the one book to read on Malcom X’s life, then this is it. It covers everything from the circumstances and lives of his parents shortly before he was born to his death. It’s exhaustively researched and documented and fact-checked and more importantly for me it’s written more like a history book, giving good context and background details on e.g. the Nation of Islam, which you absolutely need to understand to get the full picture.
What it’s extremely light on (and intentionally so, since it focuses more on the personal life and less-known early life details) are the speeches, the legacy and in general the politics. You get the gist of his position while in the NOI and afterward, especially in relation to MLK and the big shifts in outlook are all detailed, but there aren’t many direct citations woven in (although his last piece of writing before his death is annexed in full). So if you’re looking for a detailed analysis of the politics and speeches, this is not it.
The book does give you a sense of who the man was and how he became who he was and how he interacted with his environment and influenced it and was influenced in turn.
What it’s extremely light on (and intentionally so, since it focuses more on the personal life and less-known early life details) are the speeches, the legacy and in general the politics. You get the gist of his position while in the NOI and afterward, especially in relation to MLK and the big shifts in outlook are all detailed, but there aren’t many direct citations woven in (although his last piece of writing before his death is annexed in full). So if you’re looking for a detailed analysis of the politics and speeches, this is not it.
The book does give you a sense of who the man was and how he became who he was and how he interacted with his environment and influenced it and was influenced in turn.