- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Century; Paperback edition (7 Aug 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846050952
- ISBN-13: 978-1846050954
- Product Dimensions: 15.4 x 2.4 x 23.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 330,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Times
'an absorbing book that adds up to rather more than one life ... There are excellent descriptions here of street demos and wild parties that have the authentic note of the times ... [John Williams] is diligent and often relishes his interviews with surviving relatives, friends and radicals...'
Nicholas Blincoe, Telegraph
'The life of Black Power leader Michael X is worth recalling even without its grisly ending...this biography tells a story that covers the great changes in London between the mid-Fifties and early Seventies.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Michael X aka Michael de Freitas, aka Abdul Malik is - as Williams' fascinating biography makes clear - a more complex figure than the simple monster of popular lore. (Which is not to say he didn't act in monstrous ways.)
Tracing his days as a Rachman-era Notting Hill hustler, to a 60s counter culture revolutionary, black power activist, and his ultimate descent into Manson-like madness in Trinidad, Williams skilfully captures the era and the man.
Though the book reads more like a piece of social history than a non-fiction novel (in the vein of In Cold Blood), it is a page-turner nonetheless. I finished it in two days of straight reading.
Arguments of Michael's innocence of the crimes which led to his ultimate downfall - which to his credit Williams doesn't entirely endorse but does rehearse - are less convincing, and there is a good argument that Williams could have drawn more rounded portraits of Michael X's victims.
But overall, this is a vital, fantastically-researched piece of work and will be a valuable historical resource in years to come.
Tracing his days as a Rachman-era Notting Hill hustler, to a 60s counter culture revolutionary, black power activist, and his ultimate descent into Manson-like madness in Trinidad, Williams skilfully captures the era and the man.
Though the book reads more like a piece of social history than a non-fiction novel (in the vein of In Cold Blood), it is a page-turner nonetheless. I finished it in two days of straight reading.
Arguments of Michael's innocence of the crimes which led to his ultimate downfall - which to his credit Williams doesn't entirely endorse but does rehearse - are less convincing, and there is a good argument that Williams could have drawn more rounded portraits of Michael X's victims.
But overall, this is a vital, fantastically-researched piece of work and will be a valuable historical resource in years to come.
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