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Manning Marable

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention Hardcover – 4 April 2011

by Manning Marable (Author)

4.7 635 ratings

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Constantly rewriting his own story, Malcolm X became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and eventually an icon, assassinated at the age of 39. The details of his life have long since calcified into a familiar narrative: his early years as a vagabond in Boston and New York, his conversion to Islam and subsequent rise to prominence as a militant advocate for black rights, his acrimonious split with the Nation of Islam, and ultimately his violent death at their hands. Yet this story, told and retold to various ends by writers, historians, and filmmakers, captures only a snapshot, a fraction of the man in full.

Manning Marable's new biography is a stunning achievement, filled with new information and shocking revelations that will reframe the way we understand his life and work. Malcolm X unfolds a sweeping story of the darkest days of racial unrest, from the rise of the Ku Klux Klan to the struggles of the civil rights movement, examining his engagement with the Nation of Islam, and the romantic relationships whose energy alternately drained him and pushed him to unimagined heights.

Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century, a man who constantly strove, in the great American tradition, to remake himself anew.

Print length

608 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Allen Lane
Publication date

4 April 2011
Dimensions

16.2 x 4.1 x 24 cm
ISBN-10

0713998954
ISBN-13

978-0713998955
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Review

[A] groundbreaking piece of work. ...The result is not just a biography, but also a history of Muslims in America and a sweeping account of one man's transformation... It will be difficult for anyone to better this book. ... a work of art, a feast that combines genres skillfully: biography, true-crime, political commentary. It gives us Malcolm X in full gallop. (Wil Haygood Washington Post)

[L]ucid, hugely researched and surely definitive...an extraordinary story. (Sunday Times)

[A]n incredibly detailed account of Malcolm's life (and an investigation of his murder) and it is, of course, completely riveting....it is inevitably much more than a biography of one man... Marable is intensely and intimately sympathetic. (Geoff Dyer New Yorker)

In the pantheon of black American protest figures only Martin Luther King occupies a more exalted position, but it is Malcolm X whose legend has the greater street credibility and aura of cool...Now, almost a half century [after his assassination], Malcolm has finally received the biography that his unique role in black culture demands...A meticulous, comprehensive, and fair-minded portrait. (Andrew Anthony Observer)

Professor Manning Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention is encyclopaedic in its approach. The endnotes and bibliography indicate the staggering breadth and depth of scholarship underpinning this volume....Undoubtedly it will stand as a last lecture on the subject by one of America's most distinguished historians. (Wilbert Rideau Financial Times)

[A] wealth of detail, some of it new, some of it old stories confirmed...At the end of it all, Malcolm X remains Malcolm X, for good or ill, one of the most fascinating historical figures of the 20th Century...a labour of love...a courageous endeavour. (Hugh Muir Guardian)

Malcolm's short life (he was slain at 39) makes a fascinating story...Mr Marable has scoured contemporary press clippings in America, Europe and Africa...and benefitted...from the recent release to the public of hundreds of Malcolm's letters, photographs and texts of speeches. (The Economist)

Marable gives us all the raw material for a harshly critical appraisal... Marable's is very far from the first biography of Malcolm, but it is undoubtedly the most penetrating and thoroughly researched. It clearly surpasses the best previous effort, Bruce Perry's 1991 study (Stephen Howe The Independent)

By the end of the 1960s, Malcolm's disciples had elevated him to what Manning Marable, in this weighty biography, calls 'secular sainthood'; in death, his image was quickly refashioned to 'embody the very ideal of blackness for an entire generation'... But Marable... resists the temptation of hagiography and fills in the gaps left by previous books. Where the autobiography, carefully organised by the NOI-sceptic Haley, presents an idealised vision of a man's growth as a thinker, Marable gives us Malcolm in all his self-contradiction and self-doubt... By refusing to pin him down, he offers glimpses of the human being behind the legend. (Yo Zushi New Statesman)

Striking... Marable is intensely sympathetic but always conscious of the contradictions of his subject...the fulfilment of a life's work (Geoff Dyer, Books of the Year Prospect)

From petty criminal to drug user to prisoner to minister to separatist to humanist to martyr. Marable, who worked for more than a decade on the book and died earlier this year, offers a more complete and unvarnished portrait of Malcolm X than the one found in his autobiography. The story remains inspiring (10 Best Books of 2011 New York Times)

Selected by the New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2011 (New York Times)

About the Author

Manning Marable was Professor of History and Political Science at Columbia University and director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. He was the founding director of the Center for Contemporary Black History, established in 2002 and the Institute for Research in African-American Studies, where he served from 1993 to 2003. He died as the hardback of Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention was published. The book was a Finalist for the National Book Award 2011.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen Lane; First Edition (4 April 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 608 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0713998954
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0713998955
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.2 x 4.1 x 24 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 1,554,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,074 in United States Historical Biographies
- 2,537 in US Politics
- 3,294 in Civil Rights & Citizenship

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4.7 635 ratings

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Hollis Byfield

An absorbing and rewarding study of a remarkable life

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2011

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Though I am white, was born in the UK and still only a child when Malcolm X was gunned down, his words, his rise to prominence and his brutal killing made a powerful impression upon me at the time. Even then, I somehow sensed and understood that he was not the one dimensional demonic figure that the media made him out to be. This book is both a revealing biography and a searching critique of the representation and portrayal of Malcolm X - including his portrayal of himself - both during his lifetime and in the decades since his death.

Manning Marable has skilfully crafted a book that is both a highly researched and scholarly text and a gripping read. The historical context of the rise of the Nation of Islam is explained in a way that, for me, powerfully evokes the feeling of ferment of the time - a mixture of great trepidation and huge possibility. I came away from this book not only understanding more about Malcolm X but also about the long history of racial politics of which he was an almost inevitable product. It is a great pity that Manning Marable died close to the time of this book's publication. It feels like a labour of love and it would have been fascinating to hear him speak about the writing of it. A very rewarding book indeed.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Not quite the definitive study

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 July 2012

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Firstly, Marable's book is very clearly a labour of love in the face of adversity: not only did it take him many years to complete, but the writing was done at a time when Marable was very ill, and - poignantly - he died just the day before the book was published. It's hard not to be affected by the fact that Marable clearly struggled through poor health to get the book, his life's work, completed before he died.

Secondly, this is a biographical history which is both highly readable and rich with research, much of which has never seen the light of day before. If you have any interest in Malcolm X, then it is to be highly recommended. You will learn a lot and certainly emerge with a clear view of Malcolm's evolving reinvention of his beliefs and opinions as he matured and developed more of a world view.

Thirdly, however, the book is not without flaws, and I do wonder whether they would have arisen if Marable had been in better health and able to spend more time finessing the book. For example, there are numerous examples of Marable's conjecture that Malcolm "may have met" someone or "might have" done something - sometimes the footnotes back up the conjecture with evidence of one or more third parties stating this, but not always. This is just sloppy. Furthermore, the context for some of the narrative might have been better explained - for instance, some more detail on how the Nation of Islam operated would have helped my understanding, with particular focus on why there was so much petty and gratuitous violence associated with the NOI.

Other reviewers have commented on the fact that the book discusses Malcolm's sex life, and I don't have a problem with this: it is instructive to the narrative and helps the reader understand just what sort of person Malcolm was.

All in all, this is a very scholarly account with some mild flaws, which is an essential book for any reader with an interest in Malcolm X / El Hajj Malik el Shabazz, who continues to inspire and intrigue in equal measure nearly 50 years after his death.

One person found this helpful

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Ahmad al-Mardaawi

Such a trouble but powerful man in the end died in the only pair of clothes he owned and they had smelled like smoke from the house fire he dodged a week ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2018

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I had no idea about this book until I saw a PBS special on Manning Marable and then started searching around. All I can say is that I now know why they destroyed/censored the Autobiography of Malcolm X. I didn't even know that Malcolm had a gay past or that his marriage was in trouble. Such a trouble but powerful man in the end died in the only pair of clothes he owned and they had smelled like smoke from the house fire he dodged a week ago. Sad and also powerful.

2 people found this helpful

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K. A. Gyimah

Simply Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 July 2013

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A well written book, highly insightful writing regarding an exceptional man and a true leader who died before his time. A man who spoke the truth and stuck up for his people during such treacherous times for the African American. A man who stuck to righteous principles, simply a brilliant biography.

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Kossi

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 May 2011

This book adds multiple layers of new information to the complex character and life of Malcolm. Having thrice read 'the Autobiography of Malcolm X' in 1978 when 21 years of age, and as a consequernce then embarking on my own transformation, this is a must read, must have book for anyone interested in the scholarship of African Studies.

4 people found this helpful

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Peter Cunningham

Malcolm X

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 June 2011

Was a very good and informative read. I studied Malcolm X and the Civil Rights era at university many years ago. This book benefits from some real insights that became available with time, his emotional and political journey, the struggles and envy within the Black Muslims, his early years right to the end. Well written and fascinating to read.

One person found this helpful

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Wayne Muhammad

Misinformation and Misleading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 November 2013

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Having read much about Malcolm X and spoke to people who knew him, I was bitterly disappointed with this book.
You are acquainted with a man who would not hold your attention for half an hour much less electrify generations of Black activists, Muslims and political thinkers.
Unfortunately, after the Autobiography, this book will be considered the next in line to read yet all it does, without evidence, is suggests, prompts innuendo, implies impropriety and I would go as far as slander.

3 people found this helpful

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Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention Hardcover – 4 April 2011

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