Fledgling pimp, militant radical, Islamic convert . . . black activist Malcolm X was no stranger to controversy. Now a new biography explodes the myths that obscure the man
By Hugh Muir
The shot that killed Malcolm X in February 1965 as he stood on a podium in New York tore through his chest and resounded around the world. The talisman for black America was lifeless as supporters wheeled his body towards the hospital closest to the Audubon Ballroom, where he had just begun the night's oration. An ambulance had been called. None came. But even at that stage, Malcolm X was already thwarting the hopes of those who took his life to curtail his influence; and the authorities whose silent complicity assisted the murder...[continued]
