Re: List of books
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Sun, 12 Dec 1999 11:28:35 -0500
At 10:41 AM -0500 on 12/12/1999, you wrote:
>>"Autobiography of Malcolm X" - Malcolm X & Alex Haley
>
> Let's start a Malcolm X discussion. A friend of mine told me he couldn't
> get through it because of all the racist remarks towards whites. I couldn't
> get through it because I found it to be boring and not very well written
> (but in all fairness I only read the first 60 pages or so, so I won't
> back-up my impressions). Another friend of mine liked it a whole lot, which
> is why so many of us started it...
I'd suggest you give it another chance.
It shows Malcolm's move from what he was to what he was popularized
as, and further, to his own type of enlightenment. I read the whole
thing on an Amtrak from New York to Boston and was utterly
mesmerized. The beginning, where he's throwing back at white culture
some of the shit he had to take, is balanced out masterfully as the
book and the man progress. Toward the end, he was not anything like
the separatist people made him out to be. He learned humility. He
learned forgiveness. And he learned the importance of co-existence.
I think it's a very fine book about a fascinating man. It's not
always a literally true book (as is the case with most
autobiographies), but it is powerful and, in my case, able to change
your outlook on "the other" (whoever that is in your world).
--tim