Reviews (4)

Great malcolm
This is a great book for the period of time in Malcolm's life that might be the least covered. Not to long of a read, but full of information not readily available when looking for Malcolm.

It dispels the idea of Malcolm just being a racist anti Semite, how he was portrayed by the media during and after his life, but installs the belief that he was a revolutionary fighting for the human rights of all, and nothing could more truthful.

The Real Malcolm In His Last Year
This excellent little book traces the evolution of the thought and action of Malcolm X in the last eleven months of his life.Malcolm rejected the anti-Semitism and anti-woman policies of the Nation of Islam, and its refusal to involve itself in the civil rights movement. He continued to more and more place the Black struggle in this country in the world context : in the context of the struggle of the workers and farmers in Asia , Africa, and Latin America against imperialism, Yanki imperialism in the first place. He continued to expose the role of the Democratic Party to fool the masses of working people into thinking that we have a friend among our oppressors and exploiters. More and more, he spoke out against capitialism as the cause of racism and described himself unabashedly as pro-socialist.He spoke of the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cuban revolutions as examples of what we working people must do HERE for the future of all humanity. The author is no academic ' observer'; he covered Malcolm's evolution for The Militant newspaper, the only place Malcolm's speeches were published in full and undistorted after he left the Nation of Islam. This book is an excellent companion volume to read alongside Malcolm's actual speeches, also published by Pathfinder Press.

Malcolm in action
I was surprised when I read this book. It gives Malcolm X's speech announcing his political program for fighting for Black control of the black community and Justice. I didnt know what that was before I read it. I read the talk Malcolm gave introducing the program and he talks about how he was supposed to bring Che Guevara up to the meeting, but Che couldn't make it. Heavy Stuff. Breitman is pretty good at defending Malcolm X against critics and showing what the man stood for without imposing his own views on him. We need to see how Malcolm X was in action to get a better idea how we can advance the struggle.

The best book on Malcolm X
This short book is the best book ever written on Malcolm, although it is modest. It seeks to document the changes in Malcolm's ideas in the last years of his life. It also includes Malcolm's Speech introducing his program for the Organization of Afro-American Unity which besides outlining his idea for a political struggle in the Black community, documents Malcolm's collaboration with Cuban Revolutionist Che Guevara. Also included is the program of the OAAU.
Breitman, a long-time revolutionist, was one of the first people who called attention to the revolutionary significance of Malcolm and the Muslims. He is the editor Malcolm chose to put together Malcolm X Speaks. Breitman's concern is with the view that Malcolm did not do anything signficant, particularly in the African American struggle, between his expulsion from the Muslims and his murder. Instead, he shows how the amount of work Malcolm did to energize and organize struggle both inside the US and abroad, is how to believe and documents what Malcolm did.
He also comments on how Malcolm realised he needed to sharpen his critique of the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammed, something that is shown in February 1965: The Final Speeches, a collection of Malcolm's speeches and interviews from the last month of his life. ... Read more