ONE OF TIME’S TEN MOST IMPORTANT NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
 
With its first great victory in the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the civil rights movement gained the powerful momentum it needed to sweep forward into its crucial decade, the 1960s. As voices of protest and change rose above the din of history and false promises, one voice sounded more urgently, more passionately, than the rest. Malcolm X—once called the most dangerous man in America—challenged the world to listen and learn the truth as he experienced it. And his enduring message is as relevant today as when he first delivered it.
 
In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement to veteran writer and journalist Alex Haley . In a unique collaboration, Haley worked with Malcolm X for nearly two years, interviewing, listening to, and understanding the most controversial leader of his time.
 
Raised in Lansing, Michigan, Malcolm Little journeyed on a road to fame as astonishing as it was unpredictable. Drifting from childhood poverty to petty crime, Malcolm found himself in jail. It was there that he came into contact with the teachings of a little-known Black Muslim leader renamed Elijah Muhammad. The newly renamed Malcolm X devoted himself body and soul to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and the world of Islam, becoming the Nation’s foremost spokesman. When his conscience forced him to break with Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity to reach African Americans across the country with an inspiring message of pride, power, and self-determination.
 
The Autobiography of Malcolm X defines American culture and the African American struggle for social and economic equality that has now become a battle for survival. Malcolm’s fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in a society that denies its nonwhite citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
 
The Autobiography of Malcolm X stands as the definitive statement of a movement and a man whose work was never completed but whose message is timeless. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand America.
 
Praise for The Autobiography of Malcolm X
 
“Malcolm X’s autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me; the blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will.”—Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father

“Extraordinary . . . a brilliant, painful, important book.”—The New York Times
 
“A great book . . . Its dead level honesty, its passion, its exalted purpose, will make it stand as a monument to the most painful truth.”—The Nation
 
“The most important book I’ll ever read, it changed the way I thought, it changed the way I acted. It has given me courage I didn’t know I had inside me. I’m one of hundreds of thousands whose lives were changed for the better.”—Spike Lee
 

“This book will have a permanent place in the literature of the Afro-American struggle.”—I. F. Stone

时间》杂志评选的二十世纪最重要的十本非小说类书籍之一

随着1954年最高法院在 "布朗诉教育委员会 "一案中取得的第一个重大胜利，民权运动获得了它所需要的强大动力，从而进入了关键的十年，即1960年代。当抗议和变革的声音在历史的喧嚣和虚假的承诺中响起时，有一个声音比其他声音更迫切、更热烈。马尔科姆-X--曾被称为美国最危险的人--要求世界倾听并了解他所经历的真相。而他经久不衰的信息在今天和他第一次发表时一样具有现实意义。

在这本最初出版于1964年的经典自传中，穆斯林领袖、狂热分子和反融合主义者马尔科姆-X向资深作家和记者亚历克斯-哈利讲述了他的非凡人生和黑人穆斯林运动的成长历程。在一次独特的合作中，海利与马尔科姆-X合作了近两年，采访、倾听和了解这位他那个时代最具争议的领导人。

在密歇根州兰辛市长大的马尔科姆-利特尔走上了一条惊人的成名之路，因为它是不可预测的。从童年的贫困到轻微的犯罪，马尔科姆发现自己在监狱里。正是在那里，他接触到一位鲜为人知的黑人穆斯林领袖的教诲，他的名字叫伊莱贾-穆罕默德。新改名的马尔科姆-X将自己的身体和灵魂投入到以利亚-穆罕默德的教义和伊斯兰世界，成为国家最重要的发言人。当他的良心迫使他与以利亚-穆罕默德决裂时，马尔科姆成立了非裔美国人团结组织，以鼓舞人心的自豪感、力量和自决的信息向全国各地的非裔美国人宣传。

马尔科姆-X的自传》定义了美国文化和非裔美国人争取社会和经济平等的斗争，现在已经成为一场生存之战。马尔科姆对 "美国梦 "的谎言和局限性以及剥夺非白人公民梦想机会的社会中固有的种族主义的精彩观点，为我们这个时代最紧迫的问题提供了非凡的洞察力。

马尔科姆-X的自传》是一个运动和一个人的最终声明，他的工作从未完成，但他的信息是永恒的。对于任何想了解美国的人来说，它是必不可少的读物。

对《马尔科姆-X自传》的赞誉

"马尔科姆-X的自传似乎提供了一些不同的东西。他反复的自我创造行为与我对话；他话语中直率的诗意，他对尊重的不加修饰的坚持，承诺了一种新的和不妥协的秩序，在其纪律性中，通过纯粹的意志力来锻造。

"非同寻常......。...一本杰出的、痛苦的、重要的书。"--《纽约时报

"一本伟大的书......。它死一般的诚实，它的激情，它崇高的目的，将使它成为最痛苦的真相的纪念碑。"--《国家》杂志

"这是我读过的最重要的书，它改变了我的思维方式，改变了我的行为方式。它给我带来了我不知道自己内心的勇气。我是成千上万个生活被改变的人中的一个。"--斯派克-李

"这本书将在非裔美国人的斗争文学中占有永久的地位。F.斯通