All reviews for Malcom X: A life of Reinvention (2000)
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In my office, I curate a wall of pictures and posters of people who died for an idea. Malcolm X is there. I used to live in his Harlem battlefield, and one of my professors has written about him (James Cone: "Martin and Malcolm and America," Orbis, 1992). Manning Marable has given us a wonderfully balanced portrait of him, one composed over the author's own academic lifetime. One datum to note: When one looks for reviews of his book, the detractors by those who wanted hagiography instead of biography are balanced by those who feel Malcolm EQUALS Messiah.I both listened to the audio and read it at the same time. Further intensifying the experience - and this I recommend to you - is that when you read the book, lay the book down, and download/watch the Youtube of the particular Malcolm-speech or event depicted in the text. When you return to the Marable text, you will have deeper, more complex, more nuanced perspectives. Keep Malcolm as complex as he was. Marable is to be (posthumously, alas) thanked.
What makes this "biography" so interesting is the absence of romance, the placement in historical context that influenced Malcolm x life... All the things an "autobiography" and a "film" can not possibly do.As a non American it made me discover that there was more than Garvey, Martin L. King, or Malcolm X in Blacks struggle against discrimination and segregation. That black Islam in America is much more complex and 'divided' in its origins... This book opens the door to even going beyond 'Malcolm x' so for that thanks to Marable and all his assistants for producing a masterpiece.
A masterpiece. By far one of the best books I've ever read.
Wow.