The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley

published	October 12th 1987 by Ballantine Books
first published	1965
binding	Mass Market Paperback
isbn	0345350685 (isbn13: 9780345350688)
pages	496
description	Malcolm X's searing memoir belongs on the small shelf of great autobiographies. The reasons are many: the blistering honesty with which he recounts hi...more [close] Malcolm X's searing memoir belongs on the small shelf of great autobiographies. The reasons are many: the blistering honesty with which he recounts his transformation from a bitter, self-destructive petty criminal into an articulate political activist, the continued relevance of his militant analysis of white racism, and his emphasis on self-respect and self-help for African Americans. And there's the vividness with which he depicts black popular culture--try as he might to criticize those lindy hops at Boston's Roseland dance hall from the perspective of his Muslim faith, he can't help but make them sound pretty wonderful. These are but a few examples. The Autobiography of Malcolm X limns an archetypal journey from ignorance and despair to knowledge and spiritual awakening. When Malcolm tells coauthor Alex Haley, "People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book," he voices the central belief underpinning every attempt to set down a personal story as an example for others. Although many believe his ethic was directly opposed to Martin Luther King Jr.'s during the civil rights struggle of the '60s, the two were not so different. Malcolm may have displayed a most un-Christian distaste for loving his enemies, but he understood with King that love of God and love of self are the necessary first steps on the road to freedom. --Wendy Smith [close]
date added	02-11-07 edit book

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Mona rated it:

05/30/08

bookshelves: history, life-stories, nonfiction, philosophy, politics-social-sciences, religion, social-justice

Read in May, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

A few years after watching the movie, at the age of thirteen, I came across the autobiography (this book) in our library. It was a Saturday afternoon, I had nothing to do, and remembered little from the movie. I was curious about Malcolm's life story. I sat down to read it, and didn't get up until I'd finished it the next day. I remember being most fascinated with the many different stages Malcolm went through, from living with his many siblings and parents who were followers of Marcus Garvey an...more A few years after watching the movie, at the age of thirteen, I came across the autobiography (this book) in our library. It was a Saturday afternoon, I had nothing to do, and remembered little from the movie. I was curious about Malcolm's life story. I sat down to read it, and didn't get up until I'd finished it the next day. I remember being most fascinated with the many different stages Malcolm went through, from living with his many siblings and parents who were followers of Marcus Garvey and his experiences with the foster care system, to his involvement in theft, robbery, prostitution, and drug dealing and Harlem and his years in prison and afterward, joining and then recruiting others to the Nation of Islam. I remember being appalled at the description of the teachings of the Nation, realizing with horror how the doctrines of orthodox Islam had been altered in fundamental ways. My favorite part at that time (and still, today) was his pilgrimage to Mecca and his conversion to orthodox Islam.

This time around, what I found most engrossing was how much of the book was filled with Malcolm's evolving views on the relationships between black and white Americans, and the civil rights movement. Not a chapter goes by with a long, yet interesting tangent regarding Malcolm's views on some subject, for example, how African Americans demean themselves in some manner (e.g. "conking" their hair to make it long and straight, like a Caucasian man's hair) and how blind he was to that early in his life. Alex Haley, who met Malcolm when he interviewed him while working as a journalist, said later that it was often difficult to get Malcolm to stay on the topic of his own life, since he preferred to discourse on different subjects.

Malcolm's views underwent massive evolutions during his lifetime. Most people tend to remember him as representing the extreme end of the racial upheavals and movements of the 1950s and 1960s. Although he was not the focus of the Nation of Islam, he was arguably the most well-known face in the organization. It is perhaps not surprising that the Nation of Islam's teachings on the inherent evilness of the "white man" were so appealing to Malcolm. He describes how his mother was born as the result of her mother being raped by a white man, and how his father was killed by Klansmen. He talks about the white woman he dated while involved in various illegal activities in Harlem and hia lack of respect for the white men (or women) who would come to Harlem solely for what they perceived as an exotic and heightened sexual environment. He disparages the civil rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., and attempts at integration, believing that separation is the only solution. He states that the initiatives for seats at the counter and at the ballot box are just facial victories, not substantive ones, arguing that black Americans will never truly be accepted in white society. He tells a story about how he lectured at a university in the Deep South and then came back to Harlem, only to find that a white female student had followed him back. After listening to him speak about how the "white man" was inherently evil and that the "black man" had to disengage from all white society "by any means necessary", she came to ask him if he believed there were any good white people. And he said, no, that he believed all whites to be evil, and that there was nothing she could do about it, and she left, crying.

Malcolm brings up this story again after he leaves the Nation and converts to orthodox Islam, and states how he wishes he could find the student again to tell her of the changes to his beliefs. He goes on the pilgrimage to Mecca, and meets Muslims from all corners of the earth, some blacker than he is, sharing prayer mats and food bowls and bedsheets with the whitest of men. After his pilgrimage, he visits several countries in "the Muslim world", and meets with their heads of state (they are intrigued by the idea of an "American Muslim"). Malcolm returns to the U.S. and forms a mosque, with what few supporters who have followed him out of the Nation of Islam. In his speeches, he encourages white Americans to form groups to promote the well-being and welfare of black Americans, and he no longer believes that all whites are evil. It is this part of Malcolm's life that is so often omitted in history books and discussions about the civil rights movement. Who knows? If he had not been killed, his views may have continued evolving towards the more moderate side of the spectrum. It is important to remember that even as this book was being written, Malcolm was evolving. It truly was a work in progress, up until the very last pages.

This is a complex and tough book. Some of it, like Malcolm's early tirades, could be difficult to get through, but compared with his later tangents, they illustrate the drastic ways his thinking changed. I also found Malcolm's views on women to be disturbing - the only women he speaks highly of are his mother, his half-sister, and his wife - but I could see his views in this respect also changing slowly at the end. All in all, this was an engrossing read....less

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