This is a brilliant biography that is beautifully written. The deep level of research and analysis really comes through and provides a rich new understanding of Malcolm X. ( )

Biografia ganhadora do prêmio Pulitzer de 2012 revela as muitas transformações e lutas na vida do mais radical militante antirracista dos Estados Unidos.

Numerosas personagens compõem as metamorfoses sofridas por Malcolm Little, o franzino filho de uma família de negros pobres nascido numa pequena cidade do Centro-Oeste americano, até sua conversão decisiva em Malcolm X, o religioso muçulmano e incendiário combatente da revolução mundial que morreu como apóstolo da paz entre os povos.
O mártir pioneiro dos direitos civis nos Estados Unidos foi sucessivamente Homeboy, Jack Carlton, Detroit Red, Big Red e Satan; Malachi Shabazz, Malik Shabazz e El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Esses nomes de sonoridades e sentidos tão contrastantes entre si indicam os rumos contraditórios assumidos pela vida de Malcolm até o encontro definitivo com o Islã, que o levaria ao ativismo político. Ladrão, agenciador de prostitutas e viciado em drogas na década de 1940, quando também conheceu os horrores da prisão, ele abandonou o crime para abraçar com sua oratória brilhante, amparada em leituras autodidatas e nos ensinamentos do Corão, uma luta sem quartel contra o racismo e a injustiça social.
Entretanto, como demonstra Manning Marable, a mesma personalidade profundamente contestadora sempre esteve por trás das diversas máscaras sociais usadas por Malcolm. O autor acompanha os passos desse gigante afro-americano ao longo de dezenas de cidades dos Estados Unidos, além das viagens à África, à Europa e ao Oriente Médio como porta-voz da revolta dos descendentes de escravos e dos direitos dos oprimidos.

"Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention" by Manning Marable is the definitive biography of Malcolm X. This book is a tomb and was much longer than my usual audiobooks.

Malcolm X was a complex man who was constantly thinking and growing. Many remember only his hateful comments and his murder, and he was not the best husband and father. However, Malcolm X improved the world in his short life. How much more could he have done?

The book showed the weeds with the roses. I got to know who Malcolm X was. I am glad I read it. ( )

Manning Marable has written a scholarly biography of a controversial civil rights figure. Unlike the Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, this book tries to separate facts from how Malcolm and Alex chose to portray him. After a few years of petty crime, Malcolm Little was convicted of a series of home thefts and sentenced to prison, where he converted to Muslim and became a devotee of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam (NOI). After his parole, Malcolm X rose to prominence as an evangelist, recruiting members and building temples (mosques) in cities in the Mid-west and East. Malcolm X's main messages of self respect, discipline, economic development and empowerment were overshadowed by his rhetoric of violence. He was unwilling to work within the system, like other black leaders during this era (notably Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others), because he did not think white America (the so-called "white devils") would ever recognize blacks as their equal. Malcolm X advocated for separation, not integration. Eventually, his political views became as important in his message as his religious devotion to Elijah Muhammad, causing an irreparable rift. After learning of Muhammad's multiple infidelities and his growing personal wealth, which he felt were inconsistent with Muslim values and beliefs, Malcolm journeyed to Africa and the Middle East (including a Hajj), meeting with religious and political leaders overseas, leading to the formation of his own religious clique (Muslim Mosque, Inc.) and a political clique (the Organization of African American Unity.) Preaching Black Nationalism, Malcolm X was a polarizing figure, creating enemies within the black community (NOI, certain moderates) and within the law enforcement community too. Yet, throughout his tumultuous years, Malcolm X worked with a broad cross-section of leaders in Harlem and elsewhere on secular issues such as education, voting registration, police brutality, etc. I think the book's subtitle "A Life of Reinvention" may be a bit idealistic as I think "A Life of Contradiction" is more apt. There are many instances where his sexist or anti Semitism are obvious, but as his assassination approached, Malcolm X's views moderated to judging a person based on their actions, not the color of their skin or religious affiliations. ( )

Manning’s thorough investigation into the life and legacy of Malcolm X, at first admittedly rubbed me the wrong way, but with further reading Marable redeems himself through from the madness of his methods in explaining the many transformations of Malcolm X. The subtle element of superciliousness throughout the book is nothing more than the attempt to refute the mischaracterization of Malcolm X and his beliefs purported by others over the years and not aimed directly at Malcolm X, the man, himself. Having read The Autobiography and now Marable’s tome, I’m struck at how alone Malcolm had to have been throughout his life, precipitated by his intellectual journeys and interpersonal conflicts—from being immersed in a Black Supremacist cult, to embracing iconoclastic Pan-Africanist humanism, while concurrently dealing with familial abandonment and personal betrayals. In the end, A Life of Reinvention effectively manages to reinvent an accurate retelling of the life of Malcolm X by revealing in, vivid detail, the brutally honest truth in the life of a revolutionary, often misunderstood and miscalculated, man. ( )