Marable weaves a compelling narrative, fills in a lot of chronological gaps in Alex Haley's "Autobiography," and offers perhaps the most detailed account to date of Malcolm's evolving political thought (owing to new research on Malcolm's trips to the Middle East and Africa). His greatest achievement is taking Malcolm's intellectual legacy seriously and situating it within the Third World struggle for liberation. But some questions remain about the "new" revelations regarding Malcolm's life and assassination and Marable's allegedly spotty documentation thereof (cf. Karl Evanzz's blistering review).

Nonetheless, the author succeeds in bringing his subject into sharp relief. By the book's end, Malcolm X emerges as something more than the revolutionary black icon brought into existence by mainstream media and hip-hop culture. Instead he stands as one of the most formidable political and religious geniuses of the 20th century, and after all his foibles and contradictions are considered, as one who was finally human.