Title: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Author: Malcolm X
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Biographies, Politics, Race
Dates read: 3rd – 27th January 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 1965
5th sentence, 74th page: Sophia could get away only a few nights a week.

One of Time’s ten most important nonfiction books of the twentieth century

In the saring pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in a society that denies its nonwhite citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time. The Autobiography of Malcolm X stands as the definitive statement of a movement and a man whose work was never completed but whose message is timeless. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand America.

This is probably the single most intense book that I’ve ever read. Like I just sat there in shock not just after I finished it, but at multiple points throughout. It is intense, confronting and impossible to put down. It will also make you feel ridiculously uncomfortable. But I would still recommend that everyone read it. Even, if, like me, you’re not an American. And I’ve been talking the ear off of my poor family and friends telling them about how amazing this biography actually is.

I’ve been really interested in stories about race and discrimination, particularly over the past year. I desperately want to broaden my knowledge of this topic, and I’m slowly doing so. Actually, the past two years I’ve just been obsessed with memoirs and biographies, so this kind of falls under the topic. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the most angry biography I’ve ever read. And I don’t say that in a bad way. It is unapologetically honest, completely forthright and doesn’t politely sugar coat the atrocities that the black man in America has had to face. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the language and words used made me feel seriously uncomfortable, but I kind of think that that’s the point… where would we be if everyone just wrote something that would make others feel comfortable?

I’m not overly interested in the politics of America, I try to focus a little more on our own home politics here… however, it is good to get a brief understanding. After all, we are still tied to them. This book gave me a far more in depth insight into these politics than I was expecting. I’m glad that I’ve read a few other books before this which touch upon the subject, and even watched some movies. Because this was seriously confronting. And it made me stop and think repeatedly about our own Indigenous peoples who are constantly facing similar issues of racism.

This is a life changing book. It is one that I will constantly think about and has seriously made me sit back and think. I’m completely floored by the experiences that Malcolm outlines in his book. And, since it is written from his own words and not sugar coated, somehow, everything that I was vaguely aware of is far more real and intense. I had to reach for a happy, innocent book when this was finished…

Image source: Amazon