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Robert Boone (New York Times Book Review) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
It behooves us to read, and even reread Malcolm's book, and especially the last five chapaters, which describe the transformation that took place in his mind and heart after his break with Elijah Muhammad and the Black Muslims. |
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Tom Hazel (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
The remarkable story of Malcolm X inspires the multitude of readers, both youth and adult. He utilizes his words as weapons, in which he attacks the oppressor and renders understanding from the myriad black men in the United States. A true revolutionary, Malcolm X speculates and theorizes about the white man in America, informing the black community of the white man's unforgivable wrongdoings. But the power of his words, the power of his speech, the power of his diction proves inscrutable in that this one extraordinary man foments action, he foments change. He preaches that the black man must first unite with his race before successfully integrating with the white man. He advocates social and economical autonomy, and elaborates on his philosophy, which proves logical and pragmatic. Malcolm X simply loves his people, and wishes that they rise up against the oppressor and establish racial equality throughout the world. Inside this book readers will find themselves clinching onto his every word, and they, too, will gain a sense of awareness. And if the words of Malcolm do what they are supposed to do, then the reader, too, will take a stand and foment his own movement.
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Ellie Reasoner (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
I was always taught that an "autobiography" is written by its subject, but what do teachers and the authors of dictionaries and encyclopedias know?
Malcolm X's brutally frank autobiography, written by Roots author and fellow racial radical Alex Haley, chronicles the mid-century activist's nascence in the American Middle West, where his intelligence and willingness to work hard distinguished him from many of his lackluster peers in the hardscrabble rural ghettos where he and his family, headed in the wake of his father's suspicious death by a mentally unstable single mother, dwelled in dreary poverty.
Malcolm Little, as the subject of this book was known before his later serial name changes, was an insightful observer of his society and the inequalities present within it. His solution to the unbearable conditions under which his race were compelled to live was to go eastward, where he moved through several semi-legitimate jobs and finally entered into a life of crime, selling and using drugs, pimping women, and thieving from the homes of those who possessed material goods he and his criminal peers did not. Little began an affair with a white woman of, we are told, striking Nordic features, and was known far and wide at this time by his street name "Detroit Red".
Shortly after this affair began, "Red" and his accomplice "Shorty," were arrested for their crimes against society, and were sentenced to hard time in the state penal system. It was in prison that Little met representatives of a radical religious cult known as the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam advocated the rejection of non-black society, the eschewing of drugs and alcohol, a conversion to the Islamic religion, self-sufficiency of Negroes, and stood proudly on a platform that proclaimed whites were not merely genetically inferior to blacks, but were the root of all earthly evil. Whites were, according to secret Nation of Islam dogma, created on the moon by a mad scientist, and were therefore inherently malicious and God-less by nature.
Little at first belittled and rejected the message of these prison missionaries but later felt their dogma to be a solution to his and his peoples' ills. Little proclaimed his name to be Malcolm X: X being representative in mathematical theory of the "unknown" and signifying that his true family surname was lost in the diaspora of West Africans, taken unwillingly into slavery after the internecine wars and kidnappings that had gone on among the peoples there since before the time of the arrival of the white man.
During his racist indoctrination, Malcolm X began a course of study in which he read (my own favorite book) the English language dictionary, and had spiritual experiences culminating in full-sensory hallucinations of the Nation of Islam founder (and the man many cite as responsible for X's later murder) Elijah Muhammad being present in his cell with him. X challenged the moral authority of the white Christian minister in the prison and mentored impressionable young blacks who shared his life of incarceration.
Upon his release from prison, X's fanatical devotion to his chosen party redoubled and he rose through its ranks to become the Nation of Islam's "Minister" and personal disciple of the (Honorable) Elijah Muhammad: a figure whose self-authored biography made a series of claims too fantastic to be addressed in the space considerations here. X worked at recruitment for his group throughout the 1950's and early 1960's, championed its causes, and due to his charisma and courageous outspokenness, became something of a minor media celebrity. When the opinions of the Nation of Islam clashed with the non-violent, integrationist platform of the civil rights movement lead by Atlanta minister Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X steadfastly refused to concede that King's ideals were worthy of imitation and instead proclaimed that he and his Islamic brethren represented "the alternative" that was waiting in the wings to strike white America, should King's peaceful efforts be of limited avail. Full of anti-white hatred, it was during this time that X infamously replied to a young white student's question about what she might do to aid the cause of racial equality with a one word answer: "Nothing." A revealing look into the values and mindset of X when the subject of social healing was raised.
The beginning of Malcolm X's downfall as a darling of the mainstream news media establishment came shortly after November 22, 1963, when X jeeringly categorized President Kennedy's murder in Dallas as "the chickens coming home to roost." The outcry against X's words at this sensitive time was so jarring that Elijah Muhammad called X to heel and forbade him the media spotlight under which the publicity-loving X had thrived for so long. Further conflicts arose soon after when X learned Muhammad, a man X so admired he would gladly have surrendered his own life to save, had hypocritically failed to live up to his own teachings and had conducted affairs with (very) young women within the Nation of Islam, even fathering children out of wedlock, a direct violation of his own stance that sex outside of marriage was wrong.
When X publicly broke with the Nation of Islam, it was generally felt the philosophical young radical's days were numbered. X changed his name yet again, this time taking the Islamic surname Shabazz, and undertook a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Little/Red/X/Shabazz returned from Mecca proclaiming himself a changed man. Pragmatically he retracted certain of his statements about whites being demonic and inferior to his own race and softened a number of his one-time stances, particularly those regarding violence as a tool of social alteration. Sadly, the former Malcolm X was destined to have scant time to explore his new views and was murdered by black radicals while speaking in New York City. The Autobiography was completed by X's friend Alex Haley who released it after X's death.
The impact of this book on many readers is reportedly profound and life-affirming, and I thought it was candid and informative and came away viewing X as a man of intelligence who strived to find understanding and better his race. I also saw how he was confused and impressionable and sadly fell under the influence of those who taught hate. Finally after reading this book I came to see how distorted the popular image of Malcolm X is, and became certain that should more whites read the Autobiography, X's iconic status as a champion of civil justice would likely be imperiled. He was, after all, a man who invested the most productive years of his life leading an evangelical crusade based on the most blatantly racist platform imaginable, the reverse of which no white figure would ever be praised for advocating. And rightly so.
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K. Greene (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
Malcolm is a Revolutionary, by all definitions of the term, his journey was cut short due to the very hatred that he spoke out against. In regards to many of the reviews of his autobiography I found that the majority understood where Malcolm came from, and how he came up from an orphan boy, common place thug, and ex-con, to become a socially conscience, activist and leading Minister of the Nation of Islam. But for the critics who think that Malcolm was nothing more than about spreading hatred against white people, their shallow and closed mindedness stops them from ever understanding what a true revolutionary such as Malcolm is. If there is one thing that he has taught me from reading his autobiography and speeches, is that a true revolutionary's feelings are inspired by the love that he or she has for their people, not by their hate for whites. We are soldiers, fighting in a war not because of the hate that oppresses us, but for our love of our children, our black men and women. Read the book, as many times as you can, find understanding in his message. Everyone can be enlighten by his words. Peace. Love. Revolution! |
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Patrick Bernardy (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
I vaguely remember when I was a teenager (1990, maybe) watching an episode of Charles S. Dutton's short-lived television show Roc in which his nephew had read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and wanted to become a Muslim. I recall the moral of this episode was something like: never allow another's passion for their religion to influence your choice to become a follower of that religion, as you should always join up for the right reasons, and that should always be borne out of your own self-awareness. Recently, when thinking about the point in my life when I first heard the name "Malcolm X," I thought about this episode.
But, no, wait. Surely I heard about Malcolm X back in Mrs. Buckner's fourth grade social studies class, during that week we studied the famous figures in black history. Was his image there, sandwiched in between the large, laminated flash cards of Sojourner Truth and George Washington Carver? Yes, I believe he was, now that I think about it. I still to this day take a lot from that week, associating Carver with peanut butter and Harriet Tubman with the Underground Railroad. The only thing I remember thinking about Malcolm X was where in the world a man would get a single letter as a last name.
So, I was exposed to Malcolm X for the first time back in fourth grade. Being arguably the most volatile and interesting personality that we studied during that week, why do I not remember anything more about him? Perhaps in 1984, public schools in Kentucky did not know how to handle Malcolm X. How do you explain to a group of young students (mostly white and overwhelmingly Christian) what Minister Malcolm stood for? Here was a man who was not a Christian, damned the government at every opportunity, and was betrayed and murdered in cold blood by his own race (albeit, with government assistance) in a bitter power-struggle. That is a can of worms that Mrs. Buckner, though courageous enough, knew she could not open back then.
But now is the time, I think, for Minister Malcolm to be exposed.
As a father and future teacher, I think Minister Malcolm's legacy is exactly what we should be teaching children, whether they be black, white, brown, yellow, or red, to borrow a familiar refrain from his speeches. Malcolm X has left something for everyone if we are courageous and open-minded enough to look.
In his autobiography, written with then-journalist Alex Haley (who would soon after make history with another work, Roots, in 1976), Minister Malcolm narrated his journey from Harlem's criminal underworld to his pilgrimage to Mecca, impressing us with the courage he displayed in search of human truth. His legacy for African-American literature is the record of his life, in the form of his autobiography. It is proof that anyone can dig themselves out of the deepest hole.
While the source-work for Minister Malcolm's life may not satisfy a historian's devout standard of authenticity, the question remains: What do we really want from Malcolm X? His legacy, whether real or feigned, is much more beneficial to the world than the small lesson one might take from preserving authentic history. The Malcolm X that we all know is the one that was courageous enough to develop his life's philosophy in full view of the public eye. He is the one that is portrayed in this day and age as a martyr, a perfect example of how a human being can evolve spiritually, emotionally, and philosophically from the deepest pits of self-destruction and debauchery. He is the one that, above all, illustrates redemption, whether it be with a secular, lower-cased "r" or a religious, capitalized "R."
My journey through Minister Malcolm's autobiography has earned for me a great lesson in perseverance and courage. All people, especially young African-Americans languishing in crumbling neighborhoods with seemingly no way out, would serve themselves well to experience his life as written in the autobiography. There is nothing quite like this work in literature. It is metamorphosis, it is a quest. It is perhaps one of the most important works of any century, and will be at the top of the list in the literature of the African-American struggle for as long as the memory of that struggle endures.
Back in fourth grade, as I said, I remember wondering where in the world a man would get a letter for a last name. Now I know how he got it and why. I promise that my son will not have to wait as long. The ability to shed falsehoods when we come upon truth, no matter how painful the transition, is the least of which we can teach the young. We are all wrong about something, at one time or another; and Minister Malcolm shows us that it's okay to be wrong, as long as we keep an open-mind. |
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Diana Langdo (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
Before I read this book, I thought it was going to be as good as everyone who'd read it told me it would be. To be honest, after reading, I was somewhat dissapointed. It was an excellent book, no question. But it carried on and there were repetative parts and very boring parts, expescially the epilouge. When I got to the end of the last chapter, I wanted to be finished reading. But I had to slog through the boring epilouge, which was mostly just what the author felt about writing the book. You'd think this would be interesting. But no. It was very boring. I read to the end, but it was tedious reading that I think I could have gone without.
However, despite the boring parts, Malcolm X was an inspiring book. It opened my eyes to his world, and let me understand his side of the story. Even though I didn't grow up in the times when racism was such a huge issue, it is still a fairly big problem in the time I am growing up in, and the book helped me to better understand how the African-American people felt about racism.
At first I didn't agree when Malcolm X was completely and utterly against the white man, and thought they were all devils. But then when he went to Mecca and his entire life turned around and he learned that color does NOT make the person, the actions make the person, that was a real eye-opener for him, and me. I mean, I usually don't catagorize races into sterotypes, but here in America, there is still a huge race problem. We make and see sterotypes everyday, and they arn't true. In most other countries, race goes unnoticed. There is no race problem. No matter color of your skin, everyone is united under one God. Religion basically solves the race issue, but that's not always the best way for things to work, because there are also religious conflicts.
Overall, the novel was extreamly inspiring and very good, it made me think and see in a whole new light, and really opened my eyes to the often unheard side of the race issue. At times it even made me hate myself, even though I know that I am not racist. It made me look at America, as I always have, in a disgusted way, thinking, "Why are we one of the few countries where race has to become an issue?" Why do we create these stereotypes? Basically, I think, "Why do I have to live in a country where there are so many horrible problems that shouldn't matter in the first place?"
I definitely reccomend that you read at least half of this book before you die. At times it gets extreamly boring, but at other times it is riveting and you just want to keep reading, until you come to another boring part. You will not regret reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
The autobiography of malcolm X is an amazing book. This book is most definitely for someone who loves to read autobiographies, or just anyone in particular I think everyone at some point in time should read this book because you can learn a lot. Especially because of the life Malcolm X lived. Although I thought this book was amazing there were parts that seemed to just be a lil unimportant to the point where I started loosing interest of the book, it could be because I have been reading the book for a long time and not reading it consistently that it seemed to make me unmotivated. But when I first picked up this book and started reading it I was completely unraveled, to the point where I didn't want to put the book down. Malcolm X had such an interesting life and the detail in which he recalls his life almost makes you feel like the events which happened in his life happened to you. When he recapped his fathers death I was completely shocked and horrified I was just imagining myself as Malcolm. The things that Malcolm realized in his lifetime is amazing and to go from one spectrum of life to doing a total 360 and managing to go to another spectrum continues to amaze me. That even the badest of the bad can still change and I found that to be interesting. This book continues to amaze me because while reading this book I found insight into my own life and it made me realized the different characteristics I have and I would have never thought that I had something in common with Malcolm X if I didn't read this book, I personally think that there is a little Malcolm in all of us.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
Although The Autobiography of Malcolm X is not in its entirety an autobiography, it does serve its greater purpose in exacting the preconceived, or rather ill conceived notions regarding, you guessed it, Malcolm X. He was not the hate monger both blacks and whites believed him to be, but was a self actualizing human being, in search of both truth and understanding. One thing you must understand is that all he knew, prior to his visitation to the East, was institutionalized racism executed by a white ruling class, and a life of pain because of it. "it isn't the American white man who is racist, but it's the American political, economic, and social atmosphere that automatically nourishes racist psychology in the white man" (p. 378).
As Americans we are all afflicted by a history of hatred, and of racism. Where institutionalized racism has succeeded in tearing us apart, whether it is separating the impoverished (black and white), from the middle class (black and white), or black from white, we must succeed in, as we are all responsible, destroying the social constructs, such as race which have left us in a world of trouble. I urge those who care about the future of America, and the world at large to pick up this book, even if only for the nineteenth chapter. |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, is an eye opener, to say the least. For anyone who dislikes Malcolm X, or finds him to be contraversial, this book is for you. This autobiography shows Malcolm in a way that is sometimes glorious, sometimes harsh, but always truthful. Alex Haley gives a very honest portrayal of the man that Malcolm really was. This book takes, the very popular, Malcolm X and shows him as an average everyday person. It really makes the man that everyone either loves or hates, more understandable. By following Malcolm through his childhood and tracing his trials and struggles as a young boy one can learn why he sees the world in the way that he does. The reader can begin to see that Malcolm has done more then his fair share of suffering and that it is because fo his sordid childhood that Malcolm has the racist views that he is most known for.
The autobiography also shows Malcolm's late teen years in a brutally honest way. Malcolm allows Alex Haley to thell the truth about his early adulthood, this is remarkable because this was a very corrupt time in his life. The reader can see the downward spiral that Malcolm's life was on and the false values and beliefs that he had at this time in his life. We can sense the rage from his childhood and the racist views that he got from growing up in the way that he did.
One of the most interesting sections of the book is when Malcolm is in jail and begins to turn to the ways of Elijah Muhammed. At first, it seems that Malcolm is finally out of his self destructive ways and on to something better. The absolute racism in this section is impossible to ignore and for those people who dislike Malcolm, this is a section that fuels that dislike. There are shocking moments where Malcolm's hatred for white people becomes outrageous and it seems as if he is so far off into the world of Elijah Muhammed that he will never return.
It is at this time that the reader begins to realize just how impressionable Malcolm really is. This is the third or fourth phase that we see him go through and it shows how he jumps head first into anything and everything that he is exposed to. The reader gets to watch Malcolm go through many changes in lifestyle and attitude throughout the book. During most of the book his hatred for white people seems to grow and grow and it is not until the end that we see that final transformation where Malcolm has really become a good person. The reader has to wonder if his fight for equality has finally come to a want for true equality for everyone or is Malcolm just into another phase. Unfortunatly, his death puts an end to his new found beliefs. The Autobiography of Malcolm X must be read with an open mind. It will not make haters of Malcolm love him but it will offer a better understanding of a man who's views are too often comfused with ideas of violence and hate. It is a very honest look at who Malcolm X really was. I would highly recomend this book, especially to skeptics and critics of Malcolm X as a way to gain a little more understanding about a man that they may not know all that much about.
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Timothy Liu (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
The Autobiography of Malcolm X exposes the mindset of one of history's most influential and prominent civil rights activists, Malcolm X. This book outlines the details of Malcolm X's life, from his early career as a hustler to his final fight against the racists in America.
The autobiography starts with the breakdown of Malcolm's family, which has fallen victim to the racists of America. Malcolm is then forced to find a living and begins a life of crime. This part in the book is a revealing, almost shocking, part of Malcolm's life that is completely different from the African American leader that he is so well known for. Before learning about Allah and the path to a better life, Malcolm lived a life of secrecy and constant fear. Disguising himself to fit in with the people in Harlem, Malcolm loses touch with who he really is. It is not until Malcolm is sent to jail and visited by his brother that he starts studying about Allah and writes to Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm becomes a minister, a transformation quite profound. The autobiography depicts a complete change from a devilish hustler to a great religious leader.
As the novel advances, Malcolm's thoughts and perspectives of the world are revealed, an aspect of this book that separates it from other novels. Malcolm's beliefs, as detailed by Alex Haley, are presented as blunt and direct, completely honest and without any form of censorship. The style with which this book is written completely reflects the aggressive nature of Malcolm X. His anger emanates from the novel through the powerful language of the book. Malcolm's words are displayed with such force that it characterizes who he really was. Unlike his shadowy personality during his hustler years, Malcolm X, the great civil rights activists and leader that all know him for, becomes a dominant force against the racial actions in America.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X touches upon unity and the ongoing struggle to achieve such peace and harmony. Malcolm's trip to Mecca inspires in the great leader a will to unite his followers against a single cause. This novel also regards the determination of the passionate human soul, and regards the power of belief as an unlimited source of courage and confidence. The Autobiography of Malcolm X provides insight on one of history's greatest leaders and the events and motivations that gave him such an enduring reputation. Malcolm's autobiography will inspire even the weakest of cowards to stand for his or her deepest passions and beliefs.
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