By Any Means Necessary / Edition 2

By Any Means Necessary consists of lectures (including responses to audience questions) as well as interviews by reporters both hostile and friendly. Malcom's revolutionary strategy for confronting and overcoming the oppression of African-Americans in the 1960s is applicable today for the working class and oppressed people everywhere.

Much has been written about Malcolm X, perhaps the foremost black leader in the latter half of the 20th century. But the best way to really learn about Malcolm, I think, is to read his own words. Then read them again. Malcolm was - and remains - so very popular because he possessed the gift of being able to cut directly to the heart of issues. He could describe them in terms that people can immediately understand. His ability to do just that is aptly compiled in this collection of speeches and an interview in the Young Socialist magazine. Malcolm discusses the loathsome nature of capitalism, the folly of the Democratic Party and the interrelationship of struggles in the Third World to the fight for black rights in this country. While scholars have written much about Malcolm's abilities as a public speaker, this book shows that Malcolm was much more. He was a doer. He was an organizer of Harlem blacks, and he constantly urged black people elsewhere to fight for their rights. Ultimately, it was because of his deeds as well as his ideas for which he was slain.

This book is a good read. I gave it as a gift and it was good choice.

To this day I have read many memoirs, but to me there is one book that stands out. The book of Malcolm X¿s life showed how different people can become, through beliefs and experiences in their lifetime. Malcolm¿s life is a perfect example of a person with amelioration he changed his thoughts and beliefs throughout his life: Malcolm went from a jazz player, to a drug dealer, to a religious leader, to a cultural preacher. Malcolm Little was born in Harlem, New York and had a very tough home life as a kid. His father died as a fire fighter and his mother was an alcoholic. He endured many obstacles in his childhood including physical abuse. Malcolm was a very good student. When he was at school, instead of taking out his anger on kids, he would protect the weaker and less fortunate who was picked on. In school, he was not picked on, he just did not like the stuck up people who thought that they were better than other people. Malcolm discovered Jazz in his early 20¿s and Jazz became his life. He became completely engrossed in Jazz including the culture. This led to a drug use problem and he became a drug leader and took people¿s money while killing them. This was not the life that Malcolm intended to live. In the book he states, ¿I have done so many bad things in the past drug dealing ayears, that most days I wish I were caught.¿ It seems like his wishes had come true. He was caught and was put to jail for several years. In the time that he was in jail he studied many religions including the Nation of Islam. When he got out of jail, he quickly became a Muslim and he became an icon leader very quickly in America. He had many followers. Malcolm now did not enjoy the life he was having and how they studied the religion. At this point he was opposed to the Nation of Islam. Malcolm now focused on protesting for African American rights. He was a very good leader. He and Martin Luther King were great leaders. Malcolm was a violent leader, while Martin Luther King Jr. was a benevolent leader. In my opinion, Malcolm was very hypocritical he would do something and then be against it the next year. Malcolm X had a stunning ending that left me wanting more. This book kept me on my toes at all time and if there were a second I would read it with out thinking twice. I highly suggest this book to every single reader, young or adult.