MALCOLM BEFORE X

The early life and incarceration of the man who would become Malcolm X.

Parr (The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age, 2018) has written the definitive story of the youth and early adulthood of one of the most dazzling and controversial civil rights leaders in American history. He uses long-neglected primary sources—papers, correspondence, records from the Massachusetts prisons in which the self-destructive Malcolm was incarcerated for his crimes as the leader of a small band of Boston burglars—to vividly depict the fascinating transformation of Malcolm Little to the electrifyingly eloquent and ever-evolving activist Malcolm X. Parr’s thorough research and engaging style augment and enhance the story of Malcolm’s African, Caribbean, and American roots; the predisposition for intellectualism and worldliness that he inherited from his activist parents (particularly his mother, Louise Little, an intriguing figure in her own right); and the racial duality he struggled with as a child in rural Michigan. Parr makes use of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the celebrated collaboration between Malcolm and Alex Haley, enough so that readers who have not read it are not operating in ignorance of that foundational work. Parr’s use of the prison documents provides for eye-popping descriptions of Malcolm’s horrifying and edifying correctional experience and in-depth profiles of the significant individuals Malcolm encountered—most notably John Elton Bembry “Bimbi”—who were instrumental in his quest for self-discipline, structure, knowledge, and erudition.

A rich portrait of a young revolutionary.