Les PayneCritiques

Detailed but slow and politically pedestrian. Compares very unfavourably to Manning Marable’s “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention”

I liked Marable's Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, and I like this one too. It's funny: two major biographies of Malcolm X in just ten years (2011-2020), Marable's winning the 2012 Pulitzer for history, the Paynes's winning the 2021 Pulitzer for biography. This one is significant for a few reasons. First, most importantly, Les Payne started gathering material for this in 1990 and interviewed numerous people still then alive who remembered Malcolm and other characters going back to the 1920s. Interviews with Malcolm's family, particularly his brothers, were very important here. Second, about half of the book covers Malcolm's life up till his release from prison. His family background, their travails, life in the early twentieth century for black Americans, the rise of the Nation of Islam, Garveyism, the Klan, etc., are all discussed in detail. Add to that the childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood of Malcolm are examined at length. For those, like me, who like more early biography in their biographies, this was excellent. Last, this means that Malcolm's public career is rushed through rather quickly, and somewhat out of order. This is a demerit for the Paynes's work. Marable went through Malcolm's career in chronological order and great detail. The Paynes bounced back and forth and spent much time on things like Malcolm's meeting with the Klan, a whole chapter nearly, and a lot of time on Malcolm's last days and the day of his assassination. Perhaps this is because of the reliance on interviews by the elder Payne. It adds great insights, and is well-written, but leaves many gaps. For sheer usefulness, I'd recommend Marable's biography. For a complete picture, I'd recommend you read this one as well. As somebody who is quite interested in W. D. Fard and the creation of the N.O.I., Payne's work is a new piece of the puzzle. Les Payne interviewed an elderly Christopher Alston of early Detroit who apparently knew Fard and his connections to the Moorish Science Temple and the rise of the early N.O.I. This interview is gold for people interested in Fard and hopefully can be deposited in a accessible library and/or a transcript released to an accessible repository. More information on Fard is needed. Still, for some reason, the Payne's buy the weird F.B.I. conclusion that Fard was a "white man" from New Zealand, when he probably wasn't of European descent and probably from South or Central Asia (maybe via New Zealand). The Paynes's don't reference important works on Fard by Arian, Morrow, or Evanzz (they have Evanzz's Judas Factor, but not his Messenger). But, these are personal quibbles. It is a good biography, but I would read Marable's first.

A thorough, unflinching biography. The Paynes neither condemn nor adulate Malcolm X, but instead give a detailed recounting of his life from infancy to assassination.
I would have appreciated a little more detail on his home life with his wife and daughters and some of his later years, but it felt pretty complete as is.

It’s a masterful work of journalism.

A couple of notes on the audiobook:
- it’s long! Took me quite a while to get through, but...
- the narrator, Dion Graham, takes what could be a long, dry (the authors do a good job making sure it’s not dry) book and turns it into a nuanced, powerful telling. This is a case where I think the audio performance really adds to the experience

I read an audio copy courtesy of Libro.fm and the publisher.

Detailed account not just of Malcolm X but of the various strands of Black activism, sometimes used as cover for outright criminal enterprises, from the beginning of the twentieth century up until his assassination in 1965. An impressive feat of journalism.
Two things that stand out for me are that religious cults are deeply misogynist; and that well-intentioned people can often be duped by corrupt organizations precisely because of their concern and commitment to social justice.

Definitely not the book I would recommend if you haven't read the Autobiography first. While Payne definitely fills in some gaps in that work and presents some alternate information about Malcom's youth and his relationship with the Nation of Islam, there are large portions of his life glossed over. That said, I think this makes a good companion for readers who want to go deeper and are OK with a book more interested in facts than writing style.

This narrative, sourced from family and Nation Of Islam (NOI) members who had never before spoken out, is well-written, riveting, and a perfect companion to Malcolm X's own 1965 autobiography, written with Alex Haley of Roots fame. Of particular interest and poignancy are the recounting of his early, difficult childhood due to his father's death in a streetcar accident and his mother's mental collapse as she tried to raise eight children alone. His family’s involvement with Marcus Garvey’s “Back to Africa” movement is explored as an early influence that can also be seen in Malcolm’s later devotion to father figure Elijah Muhammed. Malcolm X's rough teenage years were spent immersed in criminal activity in Boston and Harlem, here enriched by new insights gathered from his close associates at the time. His subsequent impressive, self-motivated education in prison is stunning in light of his triumphant rebirth as an outstanding and inspiring speaker and leader. Described in detail for the first time is Malcolm’s surreal meeting initiated in January 1961 by KKK leader W.S. Fellows, who thought that his group’s opposition to integration meshed well with the NOI policy of Black separation.

Malcolm's painful break with Elijah Muhammed, whom he had revered as semi-divine, and the subsequent plotting of the assassination and the identification of his murderers (NOI enforcers commanded by Muhammed with the complicity of J. Edgar Hoover) is stunning in its detail. Although the description of Malcolm’s conversion to true Islam in 1964, while making hajj in Mecca, is not as dramatically told as in the autobiography, the only missing element is the very short shrift given to surviving wife Betty Shabazz and his six daughters. An impressive triumph of research and investigation.

Quotes: "Malcolm demonstrated none of the self-doubt, insecurities, or fears that Negroes commonly displayed during close encounters with members of the group dominating American society.”

“Malcolm’s persuasive call to arms was widening the gap between his more global view of the dogma of Muhammed’s sect, weighted down with hocus-pocus religiosity.”

“Beneath this race canopy of the South, a crazy quilt of petit apartheid structures regulated every stage of social contact between black and white individuals, from diapers to the shroud.”

“King and his disciples quickly drew in the journalists who held out hope that their staged, non-violent protests would flare into open violence and front-page news. The unpredictability of this cycle of violence hooked the national media on a gothic civil rights drama that they unfolded on the evening news in the living rooms of America.”

“The rise of the Muslims, and Malcolm especially, made Reverend King all the more appealing to the white, mainstream power brokers.”

“He would redraw a more pragmatic Mason-Dixon line, declaring, “The South to blacks means south of Canada.”½