Here are five books you need to read about Brother Malcolm:
1. Those who heed Powell’s suggestion to learn more about this brilliant leader should start their Malcolm X library with The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Powell and director Spike Lee call the masterpiece the most important book they have ever read.
2. The Ballot or the Bullet. This is the title of a public speech Malcolm X gave on April 3, 1964, at Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio. He advised African Americans to judiciously exercise their right to vote. He also noted that if the government continued to prevent African Americans from attaining full equality, it might be necessary to take up arms.
3. Malcolm X: The FBI File. Historian Clayborne Carson examines how Malcolm came under the intense scrutiny of the FBI nearly from the time he left a Boston prison in 1953 to the time he died in 1965. Carson provides voluminous material on FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s efforts to monitor Malcolm X and neutralize his effectiveness as a leader.
4. Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. James H. Cone wrote a beautiful and stunning book that compared and contrasted the thoughts and philosophies of the two most important Black Americans of the 20th century. Cone is able to illustrate how there were more similarities between these two iconic men than has often been portrayed.
5. By Any Means Necessary. This is a compilation of speeches that trace the evolution of Malcolm X’s views about political alliances, women’s rights, intermarriage between Blacks and Whites, capitalism, socialism and more.
