It’s the 4th of July weekend, so what’s my gift to you faithful reader?  A book review of the in the news book about Malcolm X!  Say it with me: USA! USA! USA!

As someone who was influenced/inspired by Malcolm’s life, I had a keen interest in all the stories/rumors/gossip I heard about what was in this ‘definitive’ story on the life of Malcolm X.  The death of the author/historian right before the book’s publish was a nice twist of irony (since as many of you know Malcolm died without seeing his ‘Autobiography’ in finished form.)  But what about the stories about the man himself?  Well…

In my opinion at least, nearly all of those stories were overblown.  That’s not to say there wasn’t several times while reading the book where I said ‘Whoa!’ or ‘Damn!’, but in the context of (any) man’s entire life, the more gossip-y elements of the research seem incredibly small.  I won’t repeat the allegations here because a) the most damning stuff involves his and Betty’s personal lives and b) I have to admit, tying that aspect of his life into the book made it more readable.

So has my opinion of the man changed (that would be the million dollar question with any biography I think)?  Yes, but maybe not in the way you would think.  Whether it was Marable’s intent or not, he made Malcolm incredibly sympathetic in his final years.  His political/religious transformation is part of the public record, you tie in the personal stress of essentially being homeless and completely broke, and the fleshed out theories of how many people inside and outside his circles may have been complicit in his murder, and it’s tragic. It’s just tragic.

You know who comes out of this book looking better?  Farrahkhan.  He’s always taken a level of responsibility for creating the atmosphere that made Malcolm’s murder an inevitability, but denied direct involvement.  And this thoroughly researched book backs up that claim.

But evidently there’s still hundreds of FBI, CIA, and NYPD files on Malcolm (and in particular what those groups were aware of on February 21, 1965), so chances are we’ll never know the whole story.  Regardless, Marable’s book is fascinating and a must read if you have any interest in Malcolm X.