Michiko Kakutani
In his revealing and prodigiously researched new biography…Manning Marable…vividly chronicles [the] many incarnations of [Malcolm X], describing the "multiple masks" he donned over the years, while charting the complex and contradiction-filled evolution of his political and religious beliefs…Marable artfully strips away the layers and layers of myth that have been lacquered onto his subject's life…[and] manages to situate Malcolm X within the context of 20th-century racial politics in America without losing focus on his central character…
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly - Publishers Weekly Audio
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.)
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.
It is truly a shame that Marable passed away just days before this epic masterwork reached stores. This is a book whose reputation preceded itself and would have required little promotion; allegations by Marable that Malcolm both participated in a homosexual encounter with an early patron and was unfaithful to his wife Betty had already raised the ire of two of Malcolm's daughters, as well as others in the black community for whom Malcolm X has been raised to near-sainthood over the 40-odd years since his assassination. But neither claim is based on much evidence, and neither takes away from the overall impact of the work. Indeed the towering achievement of this book, which took Marable almost two decades to complete, is his ability to present Malcolm X as a flawed, struggling human being, as much at odds with his government as with himself. Marable deftly follows the same narrative path as did Haley's autobiography, but filling in the gaps and fine-tuning the exaggerations of that best-selling volume. Combing through FBI and NYPD files, gathering Nation of Islam interviews, and fleshing out Malcolm's post-NOI activities abroad, Marable succeeds spectacularly in painting a broader and more complex portrait of a man constantly in search of himself and his place in America.
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From the Publisher
Malcolm X is etched in the American imagination—and the American psyche—in the particular and unyielding terms of radical and militant… Marable brings a lifetime of study to this biography, which is the crowning achievement of a magnificent career.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University
“Manning Marable is the exemplary black scholar of radical democracy and black freedom in our time. His long-awaited magisterial book on Malcolm X is the definitive treatment of the greatest black radical voice and figure of the mid-twentieth century. Glory Hallelujah!”—Cornel West, Princeton University
“Manning Marable’s Malcolm X is his magnum opus, a work of extraordinary rigor and intellectual beauty … This majestic and eloquent tour de force will stand for some time as the definitive work on as enigmatic and electrifying a leader as has ever sprung from American soil.” —Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown University, author of April 4, 1968
"A superbly written and carefully researched biography of the civil rights icon...I can’t recommend it highly enough."—Laila Lalami, The New York Times
“It will be difficult for anyone to better this book... It is a work of art, a feast that combines genres skillfully: biography, true-crime, political commentary. It gives us Malcolm X in full gallop, a man who died for his belief in freedom.”—The Washington Post
“In his revealing and prodigiously researched new biography. . . Mr. Marable artfully strips away the layers and layers of myth that have been lacquered onto his subject’s life — first by Malcolm himself in that famous memoir, and later by both supporters and opponents after his assassination.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“Unlike Bruce Perry’s 1991 biography, Malcolm, which entertained the most outlandish stories in an attempt to present a comprehensive portrait, Marable’s biography judiciously sifts fact from myth.”—The Atlantic
“Magisterial…Marable’s biography is an exceedingly brave as well as a major intellectual accomplishment.”—Boston Globe
“Marable has crafted an extraordinary portrait of a man and his time…A masterpiece.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“This book is a must read.”—Ebony
“Thankfully, we have Manning Marable's new biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention — which is, simply put, a stunning achievement — to help us better understand Malcolm’s complex life.”—The Philadelphia Tribune
“The book also has much to recommend it for its history of orthodox Islam, the perspective it offers on the black political movements of the 1950s and 1960s that changed America, and its insights into the development and inner workings of the Nation of Islam.”—The Financial Times
“Manning Marable’s scholarship was as provocative and profound as it was prodigious.”—Newsday
“[Marable] devoted his magnificent career—more than most scholars do—to living what he wrote and what he thought. His commitment not only to equality of opportunity but also to the exposure of falsehood and hypocrisy was a hallmark of his pathbreaking work.”—The Chronicle of Higher Education
“Marable accomplishes the difficult task of showing the bad boy of the civil rights era as an actual human being . . . Each page almost secretes the formidable research into hard facts. Marable lets the chips fall where they may because he is interested in the humanity of Malcolm X, as all true scholars should be.”—New York Daily News
“This is history at its finest—written with passion and attention and drive. It is a fitting testament to the lives and the legacies of both subject and author.”—TheBarnesandNobleReview.com
“Marable’s definitive biography is now the standard by which scholars can evaluate, not just what Malcolm X said, but what generations of others have said about him.”—The National
“This book is not the only representation of Manning's brilliance… it is a culmination of a lifetime of scholarship and activism, a larger project devoted to telling the stories of a people engaged in an epic, painful and beautiful struggle for freedom.”—BlackVoices.com
“This superbly perceptive and resolutely honest book will long endure as a definitive treatment of Malcolm’s life, if not of the actors complicit in his death.”—The Wilson Quarterly
“The book is cause for celebration . . . The book is full of revelations, big and small, and amounts to a full-on reconsideration of Malcolm’s life and death.”—VeryShortList.com
“As Malcolm lived on through his best-selling autobiography, so will Marable, through his unmatched body of writing, his educational contributions, his illuminations on Malcolm X's legacy and his devoted students.”—CNN.Com
“Manning was an unflinching and breathtakingly prolific scholar whose commitments to racial, economic, gender, and international justice were unparalleled . . . That we will have his long-anticipated, great and final work even as he leaves us is so classically, tragically appropriate.”—The Nation
“While Marable himself is irreplaceable, he has provided a foundation for future generations and will continue to shape our understanding of social change and justice.”—TheRoot.com
“A prolific scholar.”—The Columbia Record
Princeton University Cornel West
Manning Marable is the exemplary Black scholar of radical democracy and Black freedom in our time. His long-awaited magisterial book on Malcolm X is the definitive treatment of the greatest Black radical voice and figure of mid-twentieth century. Glory Hallelujah!”
The Columbia Record
A prolific scholar.
CNN.Com
As Malcolm lived on through his best-selling autobiography, so will Marable, through his unmatched body of writing, his educational contributions, his illuminations on Malcolm X's legacy and his devoted students.
TheBarnesandNobleReview.com
This is history at its finest—written with passion and attention and drive. It is a fitting testament to the lives and the legacies of both subject and author.
TheRoot.com
While Marable himself is irreplaceable, he has provided a foundation for future generations and will continue to shape our understanding of social change and justice.
BlackVoices.com
This book is not the only representation of Manning's brilliance… it is a culmination of a lifetime of scholarship and activism, a larger project devoted to telling the stories of a people engaged in an epic, painful and beautiful struggle for freedom.
VeryShortList.com
The book is cause for celebration . . . The book is full of revelations, big and small, and amounts to a full-on reconsideration of Malcolm’s life and death.
The National
Marable’s definitive biography is now the standard by which scholars can evaluate, not just what Malcolm X said, but what generations of others have said about him.
The Wilson Quarterly
This superbly perceptive and resolutely honest book will long endure as a definitive treatment of Malcolm’s life, if not of the actors complicit in his death.
The Philadelphia Tribune
Thankfully, we have Manning Marable's new biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention — which is, simply put, a stunning achievement — to help us better understand Malcolm’s complex life.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
[Marable] devoted his magnificent career—more than most scholars do—to living what he wrote and what he thought. His commitment not only to equality of opportunity but also to the exposure of falsehood and hypocrisy was a hallmark of his pathbreaking work.
The Atlantic
Unlike Bruce Perry’s 1991 biography, Malcolm, which entertained the most outlandish stories in an attempt to present a comprehensive portrait, Marable’s biography judiciously sifts fact from myth.
Michael Eric Dyson
Manning Marable’s Malcolm X is his magnum opus, a work of extraordinary rigor and intellectual beauty … This majestic and eloquent tour de force will stand for some time as the definitive work on as enigmatic and electrifying a leader as has ever sprung from American soil.
Cornel West
Manning Marable is the exemplary black scholar of radical democracy and black freedom in our time. His long-awaited magisterial book on Malcolm X is the definitive treatment of the greatest black radical voice and figure of the mid-twentieth century. Glory Hallelujah!
Ebony
This book is a must read.
Henry Louis Gates
Malcolm X is etched in the American imagination—and the American psyche—in the particular and unyielding terms of radical and militant. Manning Marable has written the definitive biography of this outrageously misrepresented figure. He has plumbed countless historical records to bring out what is there, not what is imagined, about this dominant figure of the twentieth century. Marable brings a lifetime of study to this biography, which is the crowning achievement of a magnificent career.”
|Los Angeles Times
Absorbing and well-written, passionate but painstakingly evenhanded…The resulting portrait is that of a man not distorted but more dynamic than we realized, in evolution at every point in his brief but exceptional public life.”
Philadelphia Tribune
Thankfully, we have Manning Marable’s new biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention—which is, simply put, a stunning achievement—to help us better understand Malcolm’s complex life.”
New York Daily News
Marable accomplishes the difficult task of showing the bad boy of the civil rights era as an actual human being…Each page almost secretes the formidable research into hard facts. Marable lets the chips fall where they may because he is interested in the humanity of Malcolm X, as all true scholars should be.”
Washington Post
It will be difficult for anyone to better this book. It goes deeper and richer than a mere homage to Malcolm X. It is a work of art, a feast that combines genres skillfully: biography, true-crime, political commentary. It gives us Malcolm X in full gallop, a man who died for his belief in freedom, a man whom Marable calls the ‘fountainhead’ of the black power movement in America.”
The Financial Times
The book also has much to recommend it for its history of orthodox Islam, the perspective it offers on the black political movements of the 1950s and 1960s that changed America, and its insights into the development and inner workings of the Nation of Islam.
AudioFile
G. Valmont Thomas’s tone of gravitas embodies Malcolm’s strengths and flaws: among them, his powerful drive and his failure to envision the possibility of integration. The momentum of Thomas’s voice keeps the listener on track with the decades of personal, historical, and political details. Also impressive is Thomas’s ability to shade in the voices of diverse African Americans, including well-known figures such as Maya Angelou and Muhammad Ali.”
Boston Globe
[Marable’s] work of scraping away accreted layers of myth to show the complex, conflicted figure of Malcolm X was needed not only for history’s sake, but as an antidote to the twin maladies of demonization and hero worship.”
The Washington Post
It will be difficult for anyone to better this book... It is a work of art, a feast that combines genres skillfully: biography, true-crime, political commentary. It gives us Malcolm X in full gallop, a man who died for his belief in freedom.
San Francisco Chronicle
Marable has crafted an extraordinary portrait of a man and his time…A masterpiece.
The Nation
Manning was an unflinching and breathtakingly prolific scholar whose commitments to racial, economic, gender, and international justice were unparalleled . . . That we will have his long-anticipated, great and final work even as he leaves us is so classically, tragically appropriate.
New York Daily News
Marable accomplishes the difficult task of showing the bad boy of the civil rights era as an actual human being . . . Each page almost secretes the formidable research into hard facts. Marable lets the chips fall where they may because he is interested in the humanity of Malcolm X, as all true scholars should be.
Chronicle of Higher Education
The Malcolm book stands as the greatest testament we could have to Manning Marable’s brilliance, his passion, and his intellectual fortitude. He devoted his magnificent career—more than most scholars do—to living what he wrote and what he thought. His commitment not only to equality of opportunity but also to the exposure of falsehood and hypocrisy was a hallmark of his pathbreaking work.”
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Malcolm X is etched in the American imagination—and the American psyche—in the particular and unyielding terms of radical and militant… Marable brings a lifetime of study to this biography, which is the crowning achievement of a magnificent career.
Atlantic
Unlike Bruce Perry’s 1991 biography, Malcolm, which entertained the most outlandish stories in an attempt to present a comprehensive portrait, Marable’s biography judiciously sifts fact from myth.”
New York Times
In his revealing and prodigiously researched new biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, Manning Marable…vividly chronicles these many incarnations of his subject…Mr. Marable artfully strips away the layers and layers of myth that have been lacquered onto his subject’s life—first by Malcolm himself in that famous memoir, and later by both supporters and opponents after his assassination in 1965 at the age of thirty-nine.”
Newsday
Manning Marable’s scholarship was as provocative and profound as it was prodigious.
MAY 2011 - AudioFile
Marable asserts that Malcolm X wrote his 1965 autobiography to demonstrate through his own story the transformative power of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam. Here Marable more objectively reexamines the series of reinventions of self that took Malcolm from the streets to a position of national leadership in the Civil Rights movement. G. Valmont Thomas’s tone of gravitas embodies Malcolm’s strengths and flaws: among them, his powerful drive and his failure to envision the possibility of integration. The momentum of Thomas’s voice keeps the listener on track with the decades of personal, historical, and political details. Also impressive is Thomas’s ability to shade in the voices of diverse African-Americans, including well-known figures such as Maya Angelou and Muhammad Ali. E.K.D. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
A candid, corrective look at the Nation of Islam leader and renegade—and 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 (1925–1965), 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.
