Most of the critics who charge Marable with sensational revisionism are focusing on minor points (Malcolm's alleged homosexual affair and other sexual dalliances) that constitute, at best, three or four pages of the entire biography. Other, left-leaning critics who charge Marable with downplaying, say, Malcolm's internationalism later in life apparently didn't read the same book that I did—there's an entire chapter, and large portions of other chapters, devoted to this topic. Nearly a decade after its publication, Marable's biography has weathered these criticisms and the portrait it offers of Malcolm's surprisingly conservative, ever evolving, but always structural political analysis is more relevant than ever. The tragedy of his assassination is compounded by how much he had matured as a thinker and a leader in the final years of his life, and Marable's account of that maturity is definitive. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an important book, no doubt, but Marable offers the account of Malcolm's life that you want to read.

I came to this biography because I was primarily interested in Malcolm's journey from a heretical sect to orthodox Islam. This is, for me, the most fascinating and moving aspect of the book. I believe Malcolm must be understood as a religious figure first and foremost, and the evolution (Marable prefers the term "reinvention") of his views and persona in his final years spring from his journey into Islamic orthodoxy. One feels the loss of Malcolm all the more acutely when one considers the leadership he could have provided for Muslims, both in the United States and globally. Marable's account of Malcolm's spiritual pilgrimage (to Mecca and within his own heart) is worth the price of admission.

My only complaint, very minor, is that Marable could have engaged some of the academic literature, from Afro-American studies and American studies in general, on black nationalism, divisions within the Civil Rights movement, etc. I have scholarly taste and would have enjoyed some detours in those directions. The general reader won't care. This is a fabulous biography.