I really hesitated to get this book as it's the first book I ever buy without someone recommending it or at least getting some feedback from either other readers before purchasing it.

I really cant see how could this book get a rating less than six, or anything below A+. Some may say this book is a must read for Afro-Americans, or Americans I guess they havent understood the book, nor the higher meaning of the message Mr. Malik El Haj Shabaz (formerly Malcolm X) gave his life for. I think this book is a must read by any Human being, it's a story of dignity, courage, honor, I cant put enough words to describe how I was truely inspired, motivated by this book, infact you can consider it as one of the best self development books you will ver get your hands on. It's very honest and touches the reader that I wasnt able to put it down until finished. I have watched the movie by Spikee Lee which was perform by Denzel, at that time I thought I knew enough about Malcolm's struggle, however after finishing this book, I realized that many of the important details of the story was leftout as I would definitely be impossible to including everything in a two hour drama movie. I cant stress or recommend again that this book is must read.

This book was good. Malcolm X was a great man. The world wouldn't be the same without him.

i think malcolm x was a great man and i think hes footsteps should be followed but those who think this is a bad book blame the author dont say all this stuff about malcolm x. i think he was at the same rate as other human right activist maybe higer. the only difference between them and malcolm is that malcolm wanted change to go faster "by any means neccesary" and to get what you want you got to fight for it and by doing that you got to face your challenges and deal with it and thats exactly what malcolm x did.

A good read. . .an important read. . .but more than one contemporary historian can find holes in this book- some of the glorification of Malcom (by Haley) was indeed just glorification. . .the autobiography has a few mistakes that historians can point to. . .

one of the most important pieces of American literature ever written. Even if your fellings about the subject are mixed or negative the reading of this book is a window into the American racial structure and system in this country during the Jim Crow and civil rights days. Malcolm X, the ex pimp, ex drug pusher, ex convict ended up being the most eloquent spokesperson for the so called American negro at that time who's untimely death silenced him forever. A great, great book

What's fascinating is the change that he underwent during the course of writing the autobiography (actually, Haley wrote it, which makes the title somewhat odd). I don't know if there can be a more dynamic piece of literature in a biography.

malcolm x's book co-written with alex haley jr. was a masterpiece! If anyone really read it you would have realized that throughout the book malcolm realizes that he will be killed before the book will ever be published! what an incredibly passionate and brave human being, with more common sense than the average person. he spoke in england at the oxford union , he was self taught to the point of being a scholar in any area of knowledge. this man should be worshipped for his ultimate goal of HUMAN RIGHTS EVERYWHERE!

The letter X is quintessential enough for comment.

I thoroughly enjoy the book. It talks about a Black man place in this Racist society! I was not surprised that a lot of white people didn't like the book? Most white people are still stuck in the antebellum era! Oh! how can you say that? Look at all the Sports and Entertainment figures making money! That is the only arena that some Blacks are allowed to enter. Blacks need to wake-up and see that what is happening in Iraq is in correlation what Black people have experience in America. It is kinda of funny that white people have the audacious to try to speak,define,and know what Black people are thinking. You call that arrogance! Some people will say not all white people are like that. You must understand Black people, you are living in a white supremacy society. White people consciously or subconsciously still benefit from this society. I don't see large quantity of white people trying to level the playing field. Because it benefit them economically,politically,and socially.

This is in response to musicfan. I am a white person and i feel this is obsecene. First of all Whites have done so much for blacks. None of it is appreciated. this statement you made couldn't be farther from the truth. Yes, i admit that there are some white people that have done stuff for African American people. But you consider that whites have done sooo much,i mean which are you refering to enslaving the black people for the white persons own good, or the discrimintaion that went on , or is it when the black people were slaves they got whipped or beaten if they made one mistake, or is it ripping black families apart by selling them to white people, so they could work a white man's plantation, if you consider that a white person has done so much for a black person , then i would have to agree, they made these peoples lived a living hell.~ So yea they did do alot for them, right?(sarcasim)~, by enslaving them for hundreds of years and making them work for nothing, by beating them, some to death , or maybe they did alot by burning down houses , or not giving them the right to vote, or is it going against the constitution where it clearly states that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL or thats what its supposed to be like. I mean what have the African American people ever done to us? Exactly, they did absoulutely nothing, and we go to Africa and take them back to america to enslave them, what kind of people are we? I thought we're suppsoed to be Americans, Freedom, right? Well at least thats what it says in the constitution, Amendment XIII Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. The only difference here is that it was allowed in the united states.When in reality , it wasnt supposed to be. So we can't even say we did soo much for da black people , beacause inreality we didnt, an the only person who really helped out the black people, in my opinion was truly a great president, was Abraham Lincoln.He passed the Emansipation Proclemation. This changed everything in America, it gave the black people a chance to be free from the shackles of the white man's cruelty and injustice! But unfourtunatley after that the racsim and discrimination abundantley grew.White people became more hostile towards the African American,i truly feel bad that so many black people died at the hands of white men, who were so concentrated on the color of someones skin that they didnt even get to know the person for who they r,as the saying goes don't judge a book by it's cover , well they did. The Klu Klux Klan was then created , and the wrath they shed appon black people or any white people who were friends of a black person was terrible. The KKK states that it is a Christian organization. What is the irony of an organization based on hate, violence and oppression claiming it follows the guidance of Christianity? What was wrong with white people that they had to take everything out on black people who have done nothing to us? Why would someone kill someone else souly beacause there a different color? What person in there right mind would do that and honestly not care that the people they killed could have a family, they didnt care.A lot of the people were lynched and there houses get burnt down or they would shoot them, or beat them to death. So dont even say that whites have done soo much for the black people , because we haven't. I agree that some white people did help black people out. But alot of them didn't, they just murdered or hurt them. Another thing unless you were at the holocaust or a slave hundreds of years ago, then you dont know how bad it was so dont say that a black person living in the U.S. couldn't understand, because you weren't there and you dont know all the stuff that really went on outside the history books,so don't say something unless you were actually there at that time and that place. And yes, i do agree that the black man or women should stop using white people as the excuse for there troubles. But that does not give us the right to discriminate against them or think they dont know what is going on , We should all treat each other fairly and equally, as it says in the constitution ALL MEN AE CREATED EQUAL!!!!!

Musicfan, I have never been more insulted in allmy life! I am a black man, and as a black man I agree that there are some white people that have changed America and that blacks should stop using the white man as their excuse. But you must not have read the entire book. Malcolm X did infact change his view of white people when he went to Mecca. If you would really read the book with an open mind you would have realized that by the end of his life Malcolm realized that Elijah Muhammad was not a prophet of his god (and I say his god because I am not a Muslim), and that the message he brought calling all white people devils was not the message that was preached in the Holy Koran. Malcolm X said he felt betrayed not because Muhammad had illegitimate children nor because he was silenced, but because he had been believing that E. Muhammad was the last prophet of his god. He had learned on his trip that their are Muslims of every race, creed and color. Further more. America has not voluntarily given the Black man anything. America went to Germany and in the process freed the Jews, Korea and freed soome of them, Vietnam and freed some of them. But they fought against the abolition of slavery in America. That was over 200 years ago and even in 1960 African Americans where not considered citizens. No American President has ever voluntarily said they wanted Black to be free or equal. It took marches, and sit-ins, speeches and beatings, Dr.Kings and Malcolm X's, riots and violence, peace crusades and hyms. Has America done anything for the black man and woman in America? The answer is no the blaxk man had to fight his way through the KKK and the politicians, the Arian brothers and the supreme court, the Jail house and the White house. Because of this fight no black man has the right to say he cant do it because of the White man or any other man for that fact. But dont you dare stand here and tell all these people that the Negro in America should be happy with anyone or any nation. The fight continues but this tiime it is against the African American Soul. The next time you read a book take away your prejudice, read the ENTIRE book and then give a complement. In fact dont even attempt to make a statement until you do enough researh that you can call yourself an EXPERT.

Alex Haley wrote an AUTObiography of Malcom X? Would somebody please call Mr. Haley and let him know that an AUTObiography is, by definition, WRITTEN SOLEY BY THE PERSON WHO'S LIFE IS BEING WRITTEN ABOUT. Writing about the life of another person is called a biography, not AUTObiography. This is something I learned when I was TEN YEARS OLD. No, I've never read this, but WHAT AN IDIOT.

Haley was a plagarist and fairytale spinner, and as such, a very poor choice to write a book of such importance. Credibility of the text compromised from the start. Secondly, whatever one thinks about Malcolm X's methods, a good deal of his message should bear positive weight in both black and white Americans. He did accurately point out the unsavory and disgraceful racial double standards that poisoned this nation for generations, and predicted that there would be an eventual backlash due to the subjugation of African-Americans for hundreds of years. He was totally right about this, but hey, anyone with a brain in his/her head in 1950s America could have realized this. Unfortunately, there's still millions of mutants in this country who still don't get it. Furthermore, Malcolm's most useful social/political message was, essentially, "Black Power will never exist without Green Power." He was right on target with this one, as well, and his entreaty to American blacks to be productive, self-sufficient, economically viable and personally responsible, so as to make the "Dutch Uncle" benevolence of well-meaning whites and a paternalistic government superfluous, makes absolute practical sense. In this, his thinking is surprisingly akin to that of white neoconservatives of the present day. Too bad this guy got offed before he hit his prime, as his message in the last couple years of his life became more tempered and moderate, accepting and pragmatic. At the end, Malcolm realized that confrontation, hatred, ill-feeling and total mistrust of Whitey, and vice versa, wasn't going to get anyone anywhere, but unfortunatly he was cut down before he sufficiently crystalized this thinking and preached it to his people. A shame. This might have derailed a good deal of that nasty business that transpired in our urban areas in the late 1960s.

MALCOLM X WAS A TERRIBLE CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER. HE WAS TOO MILITANT, NOT PEACEFUL AND RESPECTFUL LIKE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. IF HE WAS ALIVE TODAY, HE WOULD BE AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERSION OF OSAMA BIN LADEN, A HORRIBLE DISGRACE TO BOTH BLACKS AND WHITES.

i cannot give a justified opinion because i am not finished reading it. but so far it is very interesting that a man can be so strong and proud. a true historical figure, but some of the things that malcolm X beleved in i will never agree with.

Malcolm X is definitely one of the most interesting as well as fascinating figures in the 20th century and all of American history. It is important to note that I am a Caucasian male myself. He changed his name from his birth name Malcolm Little to Malcolm X in honor of his ancestors that came to America on slave ships through the Middle Passage, having only one letter to represent their last name. He changed his life from being a criminal on the streets of Harlem to possibly the greatest civil rights leader of the early 1960s. The hajj Malcolm X made to Mecca was momentous because he saw that Muslims from all walks of life were getting along together in harmony without regard to race. He advocated untiy within the black race. It was interesting that he said that blacks must first get human rights (which they obviously did not have) before they could achieve civil rights. He was a person that actually had the courage to stand up and challenge the establishment and say, "you know what, Afro-Americans certainly aren't treated correctly in America." The movie directed by Spike Lee based on this autobiography is also well worth seeing. He stayed loyal to Harlem, his home, by always trying to speak there and make it better. People always seem afraid to talk or teach about the man, but he was really a freedom fighter. I feel the same way as what it states in his eulogy: "There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain - and we will smile. Many will say turn away - away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man - and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate - a fanatic, a racist - who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them : Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him."

This was a terrible book. Alex Haley is notorious for taking extreme "liberty" with the truth and facts in his writing. He has done this with "Autobiography of Malcolm X". Autobiography? Leave it to Alex Haley. Malcolm X was a bigot, a racist, and a hate monger. He hated white people just because they were white. The current movement to try to make him a folk hero is very disturbing. We are setting a double standard here. Malcolm X was an extremist and a racist. Alex Haley's reinvention of the facts does not make him a good writer. It makes him a good distributor of propaganda.

I could not disagree more with Rusty's assessment of the "Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley. First of all, how does one writer write about the life of another and call it an autobiography? Alex Haley is notorious for delivering what he wishes to become public opinion as facts. Never in the history of civilization has one nation, the United States of America, done more to attempt to create equality for a racial minority. America has done so much to improve the lives of blacks. None of this is appreciated. The story of Malcolm X is a perfect example of how what is unacceptable for one race is perfectly acceptable for another. Alex Haley conveniently reinvented many historical events to "justify" Malcolm X's disgusting behavior and beliefs. Malcolm X personified hatred, bigotry, and racism. He hated all white people because they were white. We are supposed to accept that? That is acceptable behavior? Malcolm X did not take any personal responsibility or personal accountability. Whites have done so much for blacks. None of it is appreciated. The more that is done, the more blacks expect something for nothing. There is a ludicrous statement in there about whites taking away his hope and optimism. No one can take anothers hope. This is something one chooses to give up. How do you explain Jews liberated from concentration camps, coming to American, and becoming very prosperous after one generation? Their oppression was so much worse than any black person living in the United States can comprehend. How do you explain Chinese people escaping the complete domination and control by the Communist Chinese, coming to America, and becoming middle class after only one generation? Enough is enough. Blacks need to be self accountable and responsible for their own actions. They need to end their obsession with the false sense that they are victims. One of the most ironic things is Malcolm X fascination with Muslims. Didn't he realize that black African tribes conquered other black African tribes? The blacks sold the conquered black tribes to the Arabs, the Muslim Arabs. Malcolm X was a demon. The fact that black culture with the help (and profits) of white culture is making him into a folk hero is sickening. Malcolm X is worse than David Duke. Much worse. He didn't change.

For anyone who wants to try and understand the perspective of a black man struggling to overcome the systematic destruction of his biological family (his father was lynched, social services sent Malcolm Little and his siblings to foster homes in Michigan and Massachusetts) and his niche within a racist society that still exists, this is a great book to read. He is an angry man made angry by an injust, hideously racist society that denied him hope and optimism, which understandably made him feel he had no choice but to go among his own people to survive. As a white man, I feel this book is still pertinent and should be mandatory reading for white people who have little understanding of black culture and society. White people should feel disturbed by Malcolm X. His rage resonates in many young blacks who have been dealing with adversity their entire lives. It is not enough to say to black people, "I'm sorry." White people must initiate contact with blacks and go beyond the superficial "Hi, how are you?" and must earn black people's trust for both peoples to truly feel comfortable and candid with one another to discuss racism that is still strong in our society. I respected his candor and his right to be angry and to vent his anger at the "white, blue-eyed devils." He admits later in the book that after making pilgrimage to Mecca and meeting Muslims of all colors and sizes, he grew in wisdom and lessened his victriol. A man who can learn from his anger and teach his experience to other people, regardless of color, is worthy of high esteem. A classic. Other good books are Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," Richard Wright's "Black Boy " and "Native Son," Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," and Mildred Taylor's "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry."

This is one of the most important books about race and politics. Malcom X gives a real portrayl of a man who is of skewed with negative stereotypes. It is appropriate for high school to college level.

This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. One of my school essays fetched me an A because the teacher really liked the content.

Malcolm X is a fascinating person. Alex Haley is a great author. You do the math. This book intensifies the life and message of Malcolm X without diluting his ideas or beliefs.

A teriffic biography! The site downloads quickly and the images are fascinating. The chronological list of life events provides concise and insightful information. I particularly enjoyed the section on "Aftermath of his death."

The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a well written account of one of the most interesting figures on the landscape of post World War II America. Haley makes a sympathetic figure out of the often somewhat forbidding Malcolm. I could have appreciated a more detailed treatment of Malcolm's break with Elijah Muhammad and the apparent retreat from ethnic separatism at the end of his life.

I liked it because it gave a thorough insight of Malcolm's entire life with pictures, and also portrayed his strengths and weaknesses.

This is one of those books that helped shape my life. The way that Malcolm describes his journey of being called a "negro," to earning respect as a man is powerful. This book should be required reading in highschool.