PositiveThe Observer (UK)In this age of misinformation, where the victims of police killings are made out to be the problem, this humanising of Floyd is necessary. The book does not paint him as a saint but explains his flaws in the context of his experiences ... It is welcome that Floyd is no longer an anonymous Black man and you can feel the devastation of his family, friends and community in the interviews that pepper the book ... Samuels and Olorunnipa’s greatest triumph is placing Floyd’s life in the context of white supremacy ... In defence of the authors, they make a valiant effort to use Floyd’s story to educate society about the ills of structural racism; for many readers this will be the first time they have encountered the history that shapes the present. But it is also a depressing reminder of how much work needs to be done, of the lessons that still need to be learned this deep into the 21st century.
Les Payne and Tamara Payne
MixedThe Guardian (UK)... painstaking research ... The Paynes avoid the mistakes of the last attempt at a comprehensive biography ... There is no comparable sensationalism in the Paynes’ book ... Little new is added to the tale of Malcolm’s life of crime, and the book oddly takes its title from the idea that black Americans were dead until they converted and rose into the NOI. True, Malcolm’s political solutions, in particular the creation of the Organisation of Afro-American Unity in 1964, are discussed, but only briefly. And there is too little on the deep and decades-long international dimension to his activism. The focus on his assassination is unfortunate because it covers familiar ground ... The least interesting part of Malcolm’s life was his death. He remains largely misrepresented as a tragic figure, who transformed his life, became a beacon of hope but had no real plan for where he was headed.
