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Malcolm X (1925–1965)

Forfatter af The Autobiography of Malcolm X

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Om forfatteren

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and the son of a Baptist minister, Malcolm Little grew up with violence. Whites killed several members of his family, including his father. As a youngster, he went to live with a sister in Boston where he started a career of crime that he continued in New York's Harlem as a vis mere drug peddler and pimp. While serving a prison term for burglary in 1952, he converted to Islam and undertook an intensive program of study and self-improvement, movingly detailed in "Autobiography of Malcolm X." He wrote constantly to Elijah Muhammad (Elijah Poole, 1897--1975), head of the black separatist Nation of Islam, which already claimed the loyalty of several of his brothers and sisters. Upon release from prison, Little went to Detroit, met with Elijah Muhammad, and dropped the last name Little, adopting X to symbolize the unknown African name his ancestors had been robbed of when they were enslaved. Soon he was actively speaking and organizing as a Muslim minister. In his angry and articulate preaching, he condemned white America for its treatment of blacks, denounced the integration movement as black self-delusion, and advocated black control of black communities. During the turbulent 1960's, he was seen as inflammatory and dangerous. In 1963, a storm broke out when he called President Kennedy's assassination a case of "chickens coming home to roost," meaning that white violence, long directed against blacks, had now turned on itself. The statement was received with fury, and Elijah Muhammad denounced him publicly. Shocked and already disillusioned with the leader because of his reputed involvement with several women, Malcolm X went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and then traveled to several African countries, where he was received as a fellow Muslim. When he returned home, he was bearing a new message: Islam is a religion that welcomes and unites people of all races in the Oneness of Allah. On the night of February 21, 1965, as he was preaching at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom, he was assassinated. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre
Image credit: Malcolm K. Little / Malcolm X in the last months of his life.

Serier

Værker af Malcolm X

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) 9,744 eksemplarer
By Any Means Necessary (1970) 235 eksemplarer
Malcolm X: The Last Speeches (1989) 226 eksemplarer
Malcolm X [1992 film] (1992) — Book — 165 eksemplarer
Malcolm X on Afro-American History (1967) 105 eksemplarer
Malcolm X Talks to Young People (1965) 79 eksemplarer
Malcolm X: Speeches at Harvard (1968) 64 eksemplarer
The Diary of Malcolm X (2013) — Forfatter — 18 eksemplarer
A Malcolm X Reader (1994) 14 eksemplarer
Two Speeches by Malcolm X (1966) 13 eksemplarer
Malcolm X Speaks Out (1992) 6 eksemplarer
A Choice of Two Roads [sound recording] — Interviewee — 2 eksemplarer
The Ballot or the Bullet (2018) 1 eksemplar
The Autobiography 1 eksemplar
O Islamismo na América (1995) 1 eksemplar
Malcolm X Quotes 1 eksemplar
The wisdom of Malcolm X (1970) 1 eksemplar

Associated Works

The Portable Sixties Reader (2002) — Bidragyder — 324 eksemplarer
Modern American Memoirs (1995) — Bidragyder — 189 eksemplarer
Let Nobody Turn Us Around: An African American Anthology (1999) — Bidragyder — 149 eksemplarer
Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America (1995) — Bidragyder — 91 eksemplarer
The Black Power Revolt (1968) — Bidragyder — 71 eksemplarer
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Concise Edition (2003) — Bidragyder — 68 eksemplarer
Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor (2006) — Bidragyder — 65 eksemplarer
I Hear a Symphony: African Americans Celebrate Love (1994) — Bidragyder — 33 eksemplarer
The Penguin Book of Twentieth-Century Protest (1998) — Bidragyder — 31 eksemplarer
Playboy Magazine | May 1963 (1963) — Bidragyder — 3 eksemplarer

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[audiobook read by Laurence Fishburne]

I feel it’s inappropriate to “review” such a influential book so here are just a few scattered thoughts

Not sure how much of this was his doing, but props on Alex Haley for helping to shape Mr. X’s life into the narrative in this book. This is something of an ideological thriller, as we are right there with the man himself as he twists and turns through the various stages of his life and thinking. X and Haley never take the easy way out of revealing the final iteration of X’s beliefs, even if that forces the reader (at least the white reader) to sit with the harsh truths about the brutality of the white man in the middle of the book.

Of course the main tragedy of Mr. X’s life was his untimely murder, a murder which he eerily predicts several times throughout the book; but the secondary tragedy is that we are dealing with a man of incredible intellect, psychological toughness, and voracious curiosity that was severely limited by the racist society he ended up being a major instigator against. Malcolm X had a great impact on this world that’s for sure, but I often wondered what would his legacy be if he had had a access to the educational and societal opportunities not afforded to black people at the time. He himself wonders about this at the end of the book.

Of course not everything in this book aged well, but I think it still has a lot to say about the efficacy of agitation vs incrementalism. If X was anything he was realist, someone who decried what he saw as hypocrisy or a fear of telling things as they were, characteristics which are still highly relevant in the political climate of 2021.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
hdeanfreemanjr | 122 andre anmeldelser | Jan 29, 2024 |
I have to amend my previous 5 star rating to account for the recent case of fraud discovered in an interview conducted by Haley of MLK on the subject of Malcolm X. His liberties taken to misrepresent King’s opinions lead me to believe he may have taken similar liberties with Malcolm X’s autobiography.

It is still a literary masterpiece of a fascinating man, but it is hard to read it credibly as it was published after Malcolm X’s death, and he would not be able to correct any misrepresentations.… (mere)
 
Markeret
Ghost1y | 122 andre anmeldelser | Jan 28, 2024 |
Fascinating. The multiplayer forwards, introductions and afterwards are vital to making this autobiography well-rounded and contextual. A good read for 2020.
 
Markeret
Glorgana | 122 andre anmeldelser | Dec 27, 2023 |

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Statistikker

Værker
41
Also by
12
Medlemmer
11,430
Popularitet
#2,058
Vurdering
½ 4.3
Anmeldelser
139
ISBN
153
Sprog
16
Udvalgt
14

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