Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary | Walter Dean Myers | Walter Dean Myers Succeeds Again!

Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary | Walter Dean Myers | Warriors in the War for Dignity and Humanity

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Malcolm X: By Any ...

	Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary Walter Dean Myers Scholastic Paperbacks, 1994 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Profiles the late African American leader, providing a startling picture of the life of the controversial and important historical figure. Reprint. VY. PW.

Walter Dean Myers Succeeds Again!

Evaluation: This is a wonderfully written biography of an influential African American, Malcolm X. Beginning with his birth in 1925 and ending with his assassination in 1965, Walter Dean Myers describes the trials and tribulations of one of America's radical African American leaders. The book details the many differences between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Though both men aimed to lift the African American people from their second class citizenship, Martin Luther King believed in a nonviolent approach. On the other hand, Malcolm X believed that the African American community needed to revolt. "Revolution is bloody, revolution is hostile, revolution knows no compromise, revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way" (p. 107). These were Malcolm X's words as he described his belief that no African American solution could possibly involve fitting into a white society. Students will enjoy reading this biography. They will come to learn about a controversial figure in America. Several photographs and illustrations will help to entice even the most reluctant of readers.

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Warriors in the War for Dignity and Humanity

From the cover notes, the author describes Malcolm thusly:

"As a fourteen year-old in Lansing Michigan, he was Malcolm Little, the president of this class and a top student. At sixteen he was hustling tips in a Boston nightclub. In Harlem he was known as "Detroit Red," a slick street operator who knew the rackets. At nineteen, back in Boston, he was leading a gang of burglars. At twenty, he was in prison. It was in prison that Malcolm Little started the journey that would lead him to adopt the name Malcolm X, and there that he developed his beliefs about what being black means in America, beliefs that shook America then, and still shakes America today."

Even with this resume, the author makes a compelling case in this short book that if there is one person that is responsible for the success of the Civil Rights movement, it would be Malcolm X, rather than Dr. Martin Luther King. His argument rests on the fact that Malcolm preserved black dignity in ways that King never could, by asking the right questions and proceeding confidently towards answering them, even when it meant walking through the fire, which inevitably it did. After all he says, it was Malcolm who asked the questions: "Whoever heard of a nonviolent revolution? Whoever heard of a revolution without bloodshed?

I believe the author is correct in suggesting that it was Malcolm's attitude that best defined the temper of the times and provided the motive force, and even the fire behind Dr. King's own passive non-violent movement and even the courage for King to "turn of the other cheek."

As this book sees it: Malcolm was a warrior, prepared to do battle in the arena on any terms and "by any means necessary." King, on the other hand waved the white flag of Christian morality, pre-emptively offering the racist enemy peace terms, even before the fight had begun. When those terms were invariably rejected, King then said: I am coming in unarmed anyway so give my cheeks your best shot.

One warrior was uncompromising and gave black people a new kind of courage to "stand up on their hind legs" and fight back at the racist evil. This was a new kind of dignity for blacks in America. The other, showed blacks that compromise did not just have to end in an exercise in "bowing and scraping" even though it may have begun that way. King showed, as Mahatmus Gandhi had shown before him, that compromise could even be a sharp blade of an offensive sword. And he used it in just that way.

This book of course covers Malcolm's life and the civil rights era well, but it does not settle this matter, as both men went down the same way: slain and murdered by American racist hatred. It is nevertheless a valuable contribution to the biographies of Malcolm's life.

Five stars.

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An Excellent Biography of a Legendary Figure!

Malcolm X was an extraordinary man who was brilliant but he was kept down because he was an African American. The book is geared for middle school students because the author, Walter Dean Myers, has written it for this audience particularly about Malcolm's life. He writes about the hardships like the prejudices, his imprisonment, his crimes, his father's tragic death, and his mother's mental illness. He writes about the break up of the Little family and offers background information to help us understand them more. He writes about his upbringing in Lansing, Michigan and Nebraska as well as his stays in Harlem and Boston where he lived with a sister. The author covers the material very well and shows pictures periodically in the text. This book would be great for young adults and even mature adults like myself.

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From a 14 year old perspective

"I have a dream..." were the famous first words of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech at the Washington Street March. Many people have studied these words as the words of the most prominent black civil rights leader, but few have studied the words of the great Malcolm X. Malcolm X was a lesser known civil rights activist and leader. He was very controversial in his time, but few will argue that he is one of the smartest, most passionate men in history. This book takes you through Malcolm's childhood in Nebraska, his teenage years as a drug dealer on the streets of Harlem, and finally his adulthood, fighting for his rights as a great Islamic, black leader.

Walter Dean Myers does an excellent job of putting aside his feelings of Malcolm X and letting form your own opinion of him. Myers comes up with facts and not more so you can do this. He paints a clear portrait of Malcolm's entire life and work for young adult to adult readers. I personally enjoy the way that Myers is very straight forward in his writing but somehow adds a touch of suspense into the facts. "Malcolm was taking a dangerous course, and he knew it...if someone wanted to harm him, it could still happen. The word on the streets of Harlem was somber. Malcolm, it was said, was marked for death." p. 165. This is just one example of the suspenseful tone Myers uses to keep you turning pages. Myers writes about Malcolm as though he had known him personally and knows what times were like for him. At many points throughout the story, you feel as though you are there with Malcolm in Mecca or watching through the window as the assassination takes place. Myers keeps you into the story and wanting more and even wishing you had been able to meet the great Malcolm X first hand.

After reading this book, I think that Malcolm X's biography should be more commonly used name in places of learning. Malcolm X should be studied along with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so that people don't only see one side of the civil rights movement. Though Malcolm is often misjudged or interpreted, he should be remembered as a great fighter who believed in equality and justice for all.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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