Malcolm X : a life of reinvention / Manning Marable.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year Years in the making-the definitive biography of the legendary black activist.

Of the great figure in twentieth-century American history perhaps none is more complex and controversial than Malcolm X. Constantly rewriting his own story, he became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and an icon, all before being felled by assassins' bullets at age thirty-nine. Through his tireless work and countless speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands of black Americans to create better lives and stronger communities while establishing the template for the self-actualized, independent African American man. In death he became a broad symbol of both resistance and reconciliation for millions around the world.

Manning Marable's new biography of Malcolm is a stunning achievement. Filled with new information and shocking revelations that go beyond the Autobiography, Malcolm X unfolds a sweeping story of race and class in America, from the rise of Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan to the struggles of the civil rights movement in the fifties and sixties. Reaching into Malcolm's troubled youth, it traces a path from his parents' activism through his own engagement with the Nation of Islam, charting his astronomical rise in the world of Black Nationalism and culminating in the never-before-told true story of his assassination. Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of the most singular forces for social change, capturing with revelatory clarity a man who constantly strove, in the great American tradition, to remake himself anew.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Prologue Life Beyond the Legend (p. 1)
• Chapter 1 ôUp, You Mighty Race! ö 1925-1941 (p. 15)
• Chapter 2 The Legend of Detroit Red 1941-January 1946 (p. 39)
• Chapter 3 Becoming ôXö January 1946-August 1952 (p. 70)
• Chapter 4 ôThey Don't Come Like the Ministerö August 1952-May 1957 (p. 100)
• Chapter 5 ôBrother, a Minister Has to Be Marriedö May 1957-March 1959 (p. 130)
• Chapter 6 ôThe Hate That Hate Producedö March 1959-January 1961 (p. 155)
• Chapter 7 ôAs Sure As God Made Green Applesö January 1961-May 1962 (p. 180)
• Chapter 8 From Prayer to Protest May 1962-March 1963 (p. 211)
• Chapter 9 ôHe Was Developing Too Fastö April-November 1963 (p. 235)
• Chapter 10 ôThe Chickens Coming Home to Roostö December 1, 1963-March 12,1964 (p. 269)
• Chapter 11 An Epiphany in the Hajj March 12-May 21, 1964 (p. 297)
• Chapter 12 ôDo Something About Malcolm Xö May 21-July 11, 1964 (p. 321)
• Chapter 13 ôIn the Struggle for Dignityö July 11-November 24,1964 (p. 360)
• Chapter 14 ôSuch a Man Is Worthy of Deathö November 24,1964-February 14,1965 (p. 388)
• Chapter 15 Death Comes on Time February 14-February 21, 1965 (p. 418)
• Chapter 16 Life After Death (p. 450)
• Epilogue Reflections on a Revolutionary Vision (p. 479)
• Acknowledgments and Research Notes (p. 489)
• Notes (p. 495)
• A Glossary of Terms (p. 559)
• Bibliography (p. 563)
• Index (p. 577)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Marable (W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat), who was a distinguished professor of African American studies, history, and public affairs at Columbia University, died at age 60, days before this book's publication. This frequently engrossing biography gives a full account of the "lives" of Malcolm X (1925-65), including his years as a street hustler in Boston and Harlem, his time in prison where voracious reading led to his transformation into a the devout follower of Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam (NOI), his rise as the NOI's chief minister, and, finally, his split from Elijah Muhammad and his acceptance of all people who would work for African American human and economic rights. The book does bog down in its details of meetings and events led by Malcolm X, but readers will be gripped by the stories of how he refused to be intimidated by the possibility (even inevitability) of his assassination. Marable also writes of the trial in which all three of Malcolm X's alleged assassins were found guilty, although two were likely innocent. Verdict Marable's access to recently declassified FBI documents, the NOI archives, and parts of Malcolm X's diary not previously available contributes to this significant work, which will be consulted by scholars and will interest readers moved by the iconic Autobiography of Malcolm X. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/25/10.]-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

One of the United States' most renowned scholars of African-American history, Marable had been working for years on his mammoth revisionist biography of Malcolm X, fighting off illness before dying the week of the book's publication. His book offers a notably divergent perspective on the black nationalist leader from his own autobiography, co-written by Alex Haley, downplaying his criminal experiences and emphasizing his pattern of intellectual transformation. G. Valmont Thomas coolly summons the appropriate scholarly tone for this compelling portrait of a leader never entirely settled within himself. His low, sleek voice, composed and assured, is entirely apt for this adeptly written, copiously researched biography. A Viking hardcover. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

Columbia University professor Marable died shortly before the publication of his marvelous biography of Malcolm X. Since Malcolm's assassination in 1965 by followers of Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, Malcolm has been best known through his autobiography (written with Alex Haley), published shortly after his death. Nearly a half-century later, Marable has written a compelling reinterpretation of Malcolm's life, answering questions raised by the autobiography. Insisting "Malcolm's strength was his ability to reinvent himself," Marable concludes that Malcolm was an eloquent advocate for black self-respect, a representative of the black underclass, and "the most important bridge between the American people and the more than one billion Muslims throughout the world." The biography exposes inaccuracies in earlier accounts of Malcolm's life (including the autobiography), details the split between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad, and scrutinizes the assassination plot, raising questions such as the likelihood of an informer within Malcolm's inner circle. Malcolm was one of a handful of the most important African Americans in the 20th century, and perhaps the least understood. This book is unrivaled among interpretations of a complicated man and his monumental impact. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. A. J. Dunar University of Alabama in Huntsville

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Malcolm X carefully shaped his own legend when he collaborated with Alex Haley on The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which became a best-seller when it was published just months after Malcolm X's assassination on February 21, 1965. Only 39 when he died, Malcolm lived multiple lives to an extent never fully appreciated until now. Marable, a prominent professor of history and African American studies and a prolific author (Living Black History, 2006), spent more than a decade painstakingly analyzing previously unavailable archival materials and gathering new information to construct the most thorough and incisive portrait yet of this complicated, controversial, and enormously influential spiritual and political leader. Electric with recovered facts and jolting revelations, Marable's dramatic and penetrating portrait is set within richly configured historical and cultural settings that illuminate long-neglected facets of the civil rights movement. Serving jail time during what might have been his college years had his trail-blazing activist father not died or, more likely, been murdered, leaving the family destitute and his mother institutionalized, Malcolm believed he found a holy mentor in Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad. Marable covers each phase of Malcolm's rapid rise in the Nation of Islam power structure, keenly assesses his galvanizing impact as a fiery and righteous champion of black nationalism, and tracks how his evolving vision and internal Nation of Islam corruption and strife led to his betrayal and murder. Here, too, are clarifying insights into the private conflicts of this brilliant, eloquent, magnetic, and zealous thinker, his outlaw years, troubled marriage, ceaseless travels, political prescience, and fatalism. The most chilling facets of the book are Marable's chronicling of the FBI's deep infiltration into the Nation of Islam and, after his ostracism, Malcolm's organizations and of possible FBI collusion in Malcolm's assassination and the failure to bring his killers to justice. Marable's paramount biography leaves readers wondering where Malcolm's spiritual and humanitarian metamorphosis might have taken him and everyone within reach of his commanding voice.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A candid, corrective look at the Nation of Islam leader and renegadeand a deeply informed investigation of the evolution of his thinking on race and revolution.For decades, distinguished scholar Marable (African-American Affairs/Columbia Univ.;Living Black History: How Re-Imagining the African-American Past Can Remake America's Racial Future, 2006, etc.) studied the life and work of Malcolm X (19251965), and this meticulous sifting of the fact from the fictionexpertly places him within the civil-rights movement of the time and as catalyst for the emerging Black Power struggle. The author looks beyond the myth that "Malcolmites" have woven around their leader and returns to original sources, such as NOI members and former members; Malcolm's widow and their children; African and Islamist chiefs Malcolm met on his extensive travels abroad; civil-rights activists, who were wary of his views on racial separatism; and files by the FBI and New York Police Department, who may have been complicit in his assassination by NOI operatives on Feb. 21, 1965. First and foremost, Marable deconstructs Alex Haley's masterlyAutobiography of Malcolm X (1965), which he and Malcolm collaborated on for years before Malcolm's death, but which exaggerates the exploits of Malcolm's earlier manifestation as "Detroit Red," probably in order to render more powerful the conversion to Islam of this hustler, pimp and thief incarcerated at the Norfolk Prison Colony. For years, Malcolm was NOI's exalted evangelical front man and first minister, broadcasting the organization's anti-white, anti-political doctrine before Malcolm's recognition of the crucial work of the civil-rights activists and the need for global black political engagement prompted his break with the NOIto embrace what Marable terms Pan-Africanism. Moreover, Malcolm could not sanction Elijah Muhammad's extramarital affairs and out-of-wedlock children, setting in motion a perilous countdown to NOI retribution. The Malcolm X revealed here was troublingly misogynist and occasionally precipitous in action and speech, but possessed a dauntless sincerity and intelligence that was only beginning to shape and clarify his message for humanity.A bold, sure-footed, significant biography of enormous depth and feeling.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.