In 1960, Ishmael Reed, then an aspiring young writer, interviewed
Malcolm X for a local radio station in Buffalo, and the encounter cost
Reed his job and changed his life. In Malcolm and Me, Reed, the author
of such classic novels as Mumbo Jumbo and the winner of a MacArthur
"Genius" Fellowship, reveals a side of Malcolm X the public has never
seen before, and explores how the civil rights firebrand influenced his
own views on working and living and speaking out, and left a mark on
generations of artists and activists.
Malcolm X was one of the most influential human rights activists in
history and his views on race, religion, and fighting back changed
America and the world. Reed gives a clear-eyed view of what the man was
really like - beyond the headlines and the myth-making. Malcolm and Me
is also an intimately observed look at the development of an artist, and
how chance encounters we have in our youth can transform who we are and
the world we live in.