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MALCOLM : THE LIFE OF A MAN WHO CHANGED BLACK AMERICA
A superb copy of the first complete biography of Malcolm X. . We guarantee our books.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1991
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June 15, 2024
THE CONTROVERSIAL (THOUGH DETAILED) BIOGRAPHY
Author Bruce Perry wrote in the Introduction to this 1991 book, “The reader will encounter, in this biography, far more about the subject’s childhood that one does in most biographies. But… one cannot adequately understand the adult, political Malcolm without thoroughly understanding the youthful Malcolm and the legacy that was bequeathed him by the people who raised him. Most of the people who decisively shaped his outlook are still alive. Thus, far more information is available about his early, formative years than about those of most political figures… Malcolm was plagued by … trying inner conflicts. He yearned for happiness and love, yet deprived himself of both… He tried to be tough and insensitive but really wasn’t… His self-destructiveness contributed to his premature death. Despite his efforts to attribute his unhappiness and his youthful delinquency solely to white ‘society, they originated largely in his loveless, conflict-ridden home… This biography is a narrative about one man’ struggle to liberate himself inwardly by liberating his people politically. It is a book about his evolution from youthful waywardness to greatness... The story of Malcolm’s life is a biographical testament to both the worst and best in human nature and will comfort neither his detractors nor his idolaters… By transforming his youthful fear into political fearlessness, he helped transform America.”
He notes, “Malcolm’s father reportedly decided to leave Omaha after Ku Klux Klan horsemen … besieged the Littles’ home… But Malcolm’s mother---who confronted the klansmen, according to his autobiography---says the incident never occurred. Nor does her sister-in-law Rose, who lived in Omaha at the time, believe that it occurred. Rose was told by her husband that early had impersonated him, purchased clothing in his name, and left him to foot the bill. She also suspected that Early had stolen the contents of her steamer trunk. But what prompted his departure from Omaha is unclear.” (Pg. 3-4)
About his father’s death, Perry points out, “Malcolm, who knew only what he was later told about his father’s death, wasn’t sure what to believe about its cause… his friends got the feeling that Earl’s death had been accidental. But as Malcolm grew older, he began leaning towards his mother’s theory that her husband had been done in by whites. Malcolm’s autobiography gives the impression that his father was assassinated for political reasons by white assailants who bashed in his skull and laid him across the trolley tracks. But Trooper Baril recalls that Earl’s skull was not crushed… Years after the streetcar ran over Earl, Malcolm would contend that his father had been killed by… a white hate group called the Black Legion. But the records of the Lansing police and the Michigan state police, as well as newspaper accounts and the recollections of several of Mr. Little’s black contemporaries, leave considerable doubt about whether the Legion ever operated in the Lansing area.” (Pg. 12)
He observes that Malcolm’s mother had a mental collapse: “Malcolm subsequently blamed her collapse on the white social workers. He reportedly criticized unnamed family members for agreeing to her hospitalization. At times, he seemed reluctant to admit that she was mentally ill or that the underlying cause of her illness was ascertainable. But he did acknowledge that his delinquent behavior had contributed to her emotional breakdown.” (Pg. 33-34)
He recounts, “Malcolm also learned a lot at the Harlem rooming house where he slept. Several of the tenants were prostitutes, some of whom Malcolm befriended… Surprisingly, Malcolm’s sex education same primarily from the prostitutes. The instruction, Malcolm said, was entirely verbal… But though Malcolm said he preferred to sleep with women who cared for him, the sexual partners he picked were women who apparently felt nothing for him.” (Pg. 68-69)
Controversially, he states that Malcolm was sleeping with a transvestite named Willie Mae: “The motive for Malcolm’s involvement with the man he characterized as ‘little girls’ was apparently financial. Yet there were other ways he could have earned money. His male-to-male encounters, which rendered it unnecessary for him to compete for women, afforded him an opportunity for sexual release without the attendant risk of dependence on women. His flight from women was largely the result of pas female tyranny. Due to the hostile attitude toward homosexuality that prevailed at the time, his rebellion against his biologically appointed role may have been purchased at a considerable cost in self-esteem.” (Pg. 77-78) Later, he adds, “Like a prostitute, he sold himself, as if the best he had to offer was his body. Malcolm’s income-producing homosexual activity was sporadic. Nevertheless, it may have been an impediment in his quest for a satisfying self-image… Perhaps that is why he asserted, years later, that a man’s ‘greatest urge’ is the need to feel masculine.” (Pg. 83)
When he became a Muslim and gave lectures to members of the Nation of Islam, “Malcolm didn’t praise women. In sermon after sermon, he reproached the members of the opposite sex, whom he blamed for the ills that befell black males… It was not easy to reconcile Malcolm’s harsh remarks about women with his insistence that black men should respect and protect their women, instead of abusing and exploiting them. Some sisters complained about his negative statements to Elijah Muhammad… Malcolm, who claimed that women couldn’t take criticism, assured the female members of the Philadelphia temple that his purpose was not to criticize them, but to emphasize that they should defer to their men instead of trying to rule them.” (Pg. 168)
He asserts that “Malcolm’s public statements were liberally studded with gratuitous gibes about Jews, whom he accused of controlling all of Harlem’s liquor stores… He was unimpressed by the fact that many Jews were members of the NAACP… The main reason Jews were in the forefront of the civil rights movement, he said, was that the more attention they focused on ‘the Negro question,’ the more hostility they could deflect from themselves. He refused to acknowledge the altruistic considerations that prompted most of the Jewish civil rights activists… At times, he was defensive about accusations that he was anti-Jewish… He said that condemning someone because he’s Jewish is not as bad as condemning him because he’s black. The reason… is that Jews can hide their beliefs more easily than blacks can hide their skins.” (Pg. 196-197)
He points out, “Malcolm did not disclose that his blue-eyed, blonde-haired paternal grandmother had been part-white. He tried to explain away the white blood on his mother’s side of the family by claiming that his maternal grandmother, who had borne three children out of wedlock, had been raped by his mother’s Scottish father. No evidence has been found to support this contention, which Louise Little disputes. Nor do any of her Grenadian relatives seem to give the claim credence.” (Pg. 202)
He states, “the evidence suggests that [Malcolm] had been holding his tongue about Elijah Muhammad’s extra-marital activities for years… The reasons… were similar to the reasons he had kept silent about the fact that there were whites who were not devils. Once the faithful discovered the truth, the credibility of the Messenger would be gravely impaired… Moreover, if Malcolm revealed the truth about Elijah Muhammad, it would mean the end of his participation in the movement that had become the most important thing in his life.” (Pg. 232)
Of Malcolm’s pilgrimage to Mecca and its effect on his views of whites, Perry comments, “Louis Lomax… was not fooled by his version of how he had discovered that whites could be human as well as Muslim… Even his wife was apparently fooled, for it would have been political suicide for him to admit that, despite his pronouncements about white devils, he had known for years that white-skinned people are no worse than anyone else.” (Pg. 264) He adds, “five years earlier, when orthodox Muslims had assailed the Black Muslim movement for teaching racial hatred, it was he who had pointed out that Muslim Arabs had been as guilty, historically, of enslaving black Africans as European Christians had been.” (Pg. 268)
He notes, “Malcolm, who alternately admitted and denied that he wanted to stir people up, neither committed any political violence nor directed any of his subordinates to do so. ON the contrary, whenever violence threatened, he skillfully defused it, just as he had defused the rage of the Los Angeles Muslims who had been awaiting permission to exact revenge for Ronald Stokes’s death.” (Pg. 284)
Perry’s book contradicts Malcolm’s Autobiography in numerous places; Perry certainly interviewed more primary sources’ than other biographers have, however. Those wanting another perspective might read Peter Goldman’s ‘The Death and Life of Malcolm X,’ or Jared Ball’s ‘A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable's Malcolm X.’
Author Bruce Perry wrote in the Introduction to this 1991 book, “The reader will encounter, in this biography, far more about the subject’s childhood that one does in most biographies. But… one cannot adequately understand the adult, political Malcolm without thoroughly understanding the youthful Malcolm and the legacy that was bequeathed him by the people who raised him. Most of the people who decisively shaped his outlook are still alive. Thus, far more information is available about his early, formative years than about those of most political figures… Malcolm was plagued by … trying inner conflicts. He yearned for happiness and love, yet deprived himself of both… He tried to be tough and insensitive but really wasn’t… His self-destructiveness contributed to his premature death. Despite his efforts to attribute his unhappiness and his youthful delinquency solely to white ‘society, they originated largely in his loveless, conflict-ridden home… This biography is a narrative about one man’ struggle to liberate himself inwardly by liberating his people politically. It is a book about his evolution from youthful waywardness to greatness... The story of Malcolm’s life is a biographical testament to both the worst and best in human nature and will comfort neither his detractors nor his idolaters… By transforming his youthful fear into political fearlessness, he helped transform America.”
He notes, “Malcolm’s father reportedly decided to leave Omaha after Ku Klux Klan horsemen … besieged the Littles’ home… But Malcolm’s mother---who confronted the klansmen, according to his autobiography---says the incident never occurred. Nor does her sister-in-law Rose, who lived in Omaha at the time, believe that it occurred. Rose was told by her husband that early had impersonated him, purchased clothing in his name, and left him to foot the bill. She also suspected that Early had stolen the contents of her steamer trunk. But what prompted his departure from Omaha is unclear.” (Pg. 3-4)
About his father’s death, Perry points out, “Malcolm, who knew only what he was later told about his father’s death, wasn’t sure what to believe about its cause… his friends got the feeling that Earl’s death had been accidental. But as Malcolm grew older, he began leaning towards his mother’s theory that her husband had been done in by whites. Malcolm’s autobiography gives the impression that his father was assassinated for political reasons by white assailants who bashed in his skull and laid him across the trolley tracks. But Trooper Baril recalls that Earl’s skull was not crushed… Years after the streetcar ran over Earl, Malcolm would contend that his father had been killed by… a white hate group called the Black Legion. But the records of the Lansing police and the Michigan state police, as well as newspaper accounts and the recollections of several of Mr. Little’s black contemporaries, leave considerable doubt about whether the Legion ever operated in the Lansing area.” (Pg. 12)
He observes that Malcolm’s mother had a mental collapse: “Malcolm subsequently blamed her collapse on the white social workers. He reportedly criticized unnamed family members for agreeing to her hospitalization. At times, he seemed reluctant to admit that she was mentally ill or that the underlying cause of her illness was ascertainable. But he did acknowledge that his delinquent behavior had contributed to her emotional breakdown.” (Pg. 33-34)
He recounts, “Malcolm also learned a lot at the Harlem rooming house where he slept. Several of the tenants were prostitutes, some of whom Malcolm befriended… Surprisingly, Malcolm’s sex education same primarily from the prostitutes. The instruction, Malcolm said, was entirely verbal… But though Malcolm said he preferred to sleep with women who cared for him, the sexual partners he picked were women who apparently felt nothing for him.” (Pg. 68-69)
Controversially, he states that Malcolm was sleeping with a transvestite named Willie Mae: “The motive for Malcolm’s involvement with the man he characterized as ‘little girls’ was apparently financial. Yet there were other ways he could have earned money. His male-to-male encounters, which rendered it unnecessary for him to compete for women, afforded him an opportunity for sexual release without the attendant risk of dependence on women. His flight from women was largely the result of pas female tyranny. Due to the hostile attitude toward homosexuality that prevailed at the time, his rebellion against his biologically appointed role may have been purchased at a considerable cost in self-esteem.” (Pg. 77-78) Later, he adds, “Like a prostitute, he sold himself, as if the best he had to offer was his body. Malcolm’s income-producing homosexual activity was sporadic. Nevertheless, it may have been an impediment in his quest for a satisfying self-image… Perhaps that is why he asserted, years later, that a man’s ‘greatest urge’ is the need to feel masculine.” (Pg. 83)
When he became a Muslim and gave lectures to members of the Nation of Islam, “Malcolm didn’t praise women. In sermon after sermon, he reproached the members of the opposite sex, whom he blamed for the ills that befell black males… It was not easy to reconcile Malcolm’s harsh remarks about women with his insistence that black men should respect and protect their women, instead of abusing and exploiting them. Some sisters complained about his negative statements to Elijah Muhammad… Malcolm, who claimed that women couldn’t take criticism, assured the female members of the Philadelphia temple that his purpose was not to criticize them, but to emphasize that they should defer to their men instead of trying to rule them.” (Pg. 168)
He asserts that “Malcolm’s public statements were liberally studded with gratuitous gibes about Jews, whom he accused of controlling all of Harlem’s liquor stores… He was unimpressed by the fact that many Jews were members of the NAACP… The main reason Jews were in the forefront of the civil rights movement, he said, was that the more attention they focused on ‘the Negro question,’ the more hostility they could deflect from themselves. He refused to acknowledge the altruistic considerations that prompted most of the Jewish civil rights activists… At times, he was defensive about accusations that he was anti-Jewish… He said that condemning someone because he’s Jewish is not as bad as condemning him because he’s black. The reason… is that Jews can hide their beliefs more easily than blacks can hide their skins.” (Pg. 196-197)
He points out, “Malcolm did not disclose that his blue-eyed, blonde-haired paternal grandmother had been part-white. He tried to explain away the white blood on his mother’s side of the family by claiming that his maternal grandmother, who had borne three children out of wedlock, had been raped by his mother’s Scottish father. No evidence has been found to support this contention, which Louise Little disputes. Nor do any of her Grenadian relatives seem to give the claim credence.” (Pg. 202)
He states, “the evidence suggests that [Malcolm] had been holding his tongue about Elijah Muhammad’s extra-marital activities for years… The reasons… were similar to the reasons he had kept silent about the fact that there were whites who were not devils. Once the faithful discovered the truth, the credibility of the Messenger would be gravely impaired… Moreover, if Malcolm revealed the truth about Elijah Muhammad, it would mean the end of his participation in the movement that had become the most important thing in his life.” (Pg. 232)
Of Malcolm’s pilgrimage to Mecca and its effect on his views of whites, Perry comments, “Louis Lomax… was not fooled by his version of how he had discovered that whites could be human as well as Muslim… Even his wife was apparently fooled, for it would have been political suicide for him to admit that, despite his pronouncements about white devils, he had known for years that white-skinned people are no worse than anyone else.” (Pg. 264) He adds, “five years earlier, when orthodox Muslims had assailed the Black Muslim movement for teaching racial hatred, it was he who had pointed out that Muslim Arabs had been as guilty, historically, of enslaving black Africans as European Christians had been.” (Pg. 268)
He notes, “Malcolm, who alternately admitted and denied that he wanted to stir people up, neither committed any political violence nor directed any of his subordinates to do so. ON the contrary, whenever violence threatened, he skillfully defused it, just as he had defused the rage of the Los Angeles Muslims who had been awaiting permission to exact revenge for Ronald Stokes’s death.” (Pg. 284)
Perry’s book contradicts Malcolm’s Autobiography in numerous places; Perry certainly interviewed more primary sources’ than other biographers have, however. Those wanting another perspective might read Peter Goldman’s ‘The Death and Life of Malcolm X,’ or Jared Ball’s ‘A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable's Malcolm X.’
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