A review by siria
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

5.0

This is an absorbing and meticulously detailed biography of Malcolm X. It isn't definitive, as Marable readily admits, largely because how much FBI documentation on Malcolm's life remains classified. It's still an impressively thorough biography; while I haven't read the Autobiography, it's clear that Marable is attempting to write a counterpoint to that work which strips away much of the hagiographical mystique that has come to surround Malcolm in the years since his murder. Marable follows Malcolm through his life's numerous "reinventions": from the young Malcolm Little of Omaha, Nebraska, to zoot-suited petty criminal to divisive, conservative black nationalist to orthodox Muslim campaigner for human rights. The man Marable writes about is a profoundly flawed individual who was nonetheless brilliant and committed to his work, a polished rhetorician, who was clearly killed just at the moment when he was about to reinvent himself again. Definitely recommended.