evandoro's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
blindmath's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Should be required reading for every American
rmichno's review against another edition
3.0
interesting reading, skipped past some of the preaching/politics
perusinghannah's review against another edition
4.0
(8.7/10) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I'm not going to discuss any of Malcolm X's beliefs and methods here, because frankly my opinions would be rather useless - his activism took place before my time, in a country that's not mine, and in direct response to the plight of a community that I don't belong to. I'm in no place to either approve or condemn, so my review is solely about how his story is told here.
I chose to listen to this on audio, and definitely recommend doing so. Laurence Fishburne did a phenomenal job narrating this, and it was an absolute joy to listen to.
I also very much appreciate how the story of his life was told, because it spared no detail. Starting in his early childhood and chronicling the transformation of his understanding of the world all the way to 1965, the way he described his life experiences painted a clear picture of what influenced his beliefs at any point in time. He also loved to set the scene, which added a lot of flavor and made his story not only informative, but solidly entertaining at the same time.
Unfortunately, I did find it dragged through the middle, which chronicles his involvement with The Nation of Islam. This was not because the topic wasn't interesting, quite the opposite, but because this was a large chunk of the book and he repeats himself an awful lot in these sections, which did get tedious after a while.
If, like me, you received very little education regarding Malcolm X, I highly recommend picking this up. What little I thought I knew about the man flew right out the window during the course of this book, and there's a lot in here that's unfortunately still relevant today. All in all, a very interesting read.
I'm not going to discuss any of Malcolm X's beliefs and methods here, because frankly my opinions would be rather useless - his activism took place before my time, in a country that's not mine, and in direct response to the plight of a community that I don't belong to. I'm in no place to either approve or condemn, so my review is solely about how his story is told here.
I chose to listen to this on audio, and definitely recommend doing so. Laurence Fishburne did a phenomenal job narrating this, and it was an absolute joy to listen to.
I also very much appreciate how the story of his life was told, because it spared no detail. Starting in his early childhood and chronicling the transformation of his understanding of the world all the way to 1965, the way he described his life experiences painted a clear picture of what influenced his beliefs at any point in time. He also loved to set the scene, which added a lot of flavor and made his story not only informative, but solidly entertaining at the same time.
Unfortunately, I did find it dragged through the middle, which chronicles his involvement with The Nation of Islam. This was not because the topic wasn't interesting, quite the opposite, but because this was a large chunk of the book and he repeats himself an awful lot in these sections, which did get tedious after a while.
If, like me, you received very little education regarding Malcolm X, I highly recommend picking this up. What little I thought I knew about the man flew right out the window during the course of this book, and there's a lot in here that's unfortunately still relevant today. All in all, a very interesting read.
helenaruby's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
aniblaahh's review against another edition
5.0
Probably the best biography/autobiography I have ever read, I was gripped to find out how Malcolm's life unfolded and his views developed. Malcolm X's life was so interesting and, especially his earlier life, very surprising. Growing up in the UK, you don't hear much about Malcolm X and the impact he had on the civil rights movement, which was monumental. Most of his reflections on the problems in America, you can still see nearly 60 years later.