Luminous, nuanced ... Whitaker’s book kicks off with a spellbinding account of the lead-up to Malcolm’s assassination ... A sumptuous, essential book that draws us to the real man while acknowledging him as somehow unknowable, an American sphinx.
Whitaker makes good use of archival collections
... The author produces a gripping tale .. [Told] with sensitivity and precision ... Though beautifully written and engaging, the book largely sidesteps an obvious question: Why did different groups of Americans, at specific points in time in the years following Malcolm’s death, come to idolize or emulate him? ... Whitaker’s book is a fascinating exploration of the many ways that three generations of Americans have embraced the image, if not always the substance, of Malcolm X. Readers will have to consult other sources to fully understand why they did so.
Whitaker…makes an important intervention. Shaking off the biographical archives, he returns the Malcolm debates back to their true wellspring: the totemic force of his memory in our popular imaginations ... Whitaker provides a jaunty refresher on the ‘Malcolm-Manias’ that swept through America ... Most thrilling is Whitaker’s recovery of the Newsweek reporter Peter Goldman’s excellent investigative work on the assassination ... Insists on seeing its hero as paradigmatically American ... Strangely, the author does not go back to look for the footprints of [Malcom X's] journey [to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe] even though it’s clear that the legacy of those trips is formidable.
Though extensive, it never feels sensationalized. Whitaker strikes a careful balance between crime drama and rigorous historical narrative. He skillfully unpacks how the news media shaped—and continues to shape—the public perception of Malcolm, both suppressing and amplifying the mystique surrounding his image and the frenzy around his death ... a powerful and inspiring examination of how one man’s legacy has grown far beyond his lifetime. As we mark the centennial of Malcolm X’s birth, Whitaker’s work serves as a vital reminder of his enduring impact—and why his story continues to matter.
Whitaker explores both in alternating chapters, looking at the events surrounding the assassination, then broadening the scope to examine the lives Malcolm touched and all that he inspired. While the murder investigation is a cautionary tale of justice delayed and denied, it is the cultural debates that form the book.
