Prophet Of Rage: A Life Of Louis Farrakhan And His Nation [Paperback]

Arthur Magida (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 1997

He preaches a dynamic message of African-American empowerment and self-reliance, offering discipline and hope to those most in need. At the same time, he outrages mainstream America with his fiery rhetoric and unrestrained criticism of whites, Jews, and Catholics, whom he blames for the ongoing oppression of blacks. He is the Reverend Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and his voice shakes the nation.Prophet of Rage penetrates the rhetoric that surrounds this enigmatic figure to reveal his personal story, tracing his life from his birth as Eugene Walcott in the Bronx through his childhood in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, his training as a classical violinist, and his career as a calypso singer. It then follows his remarkable political career, recounting his indoctrination into the Nation of Islam, during which time he took the name “Louis X”; explaining his involvement with the assassination of Malcolm X; and chronicling his rise to power as a powerful orator, political leader, and self-proclaimed prophet.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Promoted as the "first ever biography of Louis Farrakhan",; Arthur Magida traces the life of one of America's most mysterious yet influential leaders. Magida, editorial director of Jewish Lights Publishing, presents a fine portrait of Farrakhan's childhood days in Boston. Born in 1933 as Louis Eugene Walcott, the boy excelled in many areas. A musician and a singer, a track star and excellent student, he attended a school for gifted children and was a camp counselor in the summer. Magida also provides insights into Farrakhan's four decades in the Nation of Islam and chronicles Farrakhan's more recent political skirmishes, including those with Jewish organizations. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Magida, editorial director of Jewish Lights, has interviewed Louis Farrakhan often enough to have grounds to argue that the controversial Nation of Islam leader treats individual Jews with respect. But as he shows in this fair-minded study?more about the NOI than about Farrakhan himself?it is Farrakhan's public statements that matter. Magida first sketches Louis Gene Walcott's youth in Boston's Roxbury and his drifting into black nationalism and the Nation of Islam. He then delves into what he sees as the NOI's self-fabricated religion, arguing that its much-praised discipline was enforced by the paramilitary Fruit of Islam's strong-arm tactics. Magida contends that Farrakhan has glossed over, rather than repudiated, the incendiary language that pointed to Malcolm X's death. When the NOI in 1976 was folded into orthodox Islam, Farrakhan resurrected its nationalist role. While Magida describes the mythologies behind Farrakhan's religion, he stints on analyzing its business efforts and its prominence on American college campuses, and he does not capture the drama of Farrakhan's public appearances. Still, he solidly deconstructs Farrakhan's headline-grabbing rhetoric about Jews and even hints that the initial Jewish "defensive reflex" hindered rapprochement. It is black America's grievances that Farrakhan draws on, and his organizing of the Million Man March gave him new, if still tenuous, stature, the author shows. Magida concludes that Farrakhan's subsequent trip to embrace Middle Eastern dictators squandered much of his momentum. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (May 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 046506437X
• ISBN-13: 978-0465064373
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,620,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

web site: naziseance.com

Arthur J. Magida's new book, The Nazi Séance - a biography of Erik Jan Hanussen, "Hitler's Jewish clairvoyant" - will be published by Macmillan in November.
"An astonishing story, brilliantly told," says Roger Moorhouse, author of Killing Hitler. Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler, agrees: "Hanussen (and his relation to Hitler)is one of the strangest enigmas of the pre-war era. Arthur Magida has done a great service in illuminating this figure of mystery--and the light his story reflects on the growing darkness surrounding him."
"Well-written... Since there have been exaggerated accounts of Nazi interest in... the occult, it is refreshing to have this subject engaged in a thoughtful way... Readers will obtain a real sense of how many in the upheavals of post-World War 1 Germany flocked to the most unlikely sources of information and comfort" -- Gerhard Weinberg, eminent history of the Nazi era
Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America, says, "Arthur Magida's haunting and vivid historical portrait illustrates how opportunism and spiritual fashion flourished on the margins of the Third Reich. It is a chilling parable about the ultimate price paid by those who blindly allied themselves with brute power."
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, scholar-in-residence, Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco, and author of Kabbalah: A Love Story, observes, "In a history that reads like a novel, Arthur Magida, gives us much more than a finely written and well-researched examination of the "Nazi" Jewish psychic. The Nazi Seance may also be a disturbingly fit metaphor for Jewish existence among the nations."
Narrative possesses the "palpable dread of a thriller" -- The Urbanite

Magida's previous book, Opening the Doors of Wonder, explains rites of passage in a variety of religions - bar/bat mitzvahs, confirmations, baptisms, Hindus' sacred thread ceremonies, Muslims' shahada, Buddhists' jukai. Interviews include Deepak Chopra, Elie Wiesel, Ram Dass, Roz Chast, Chinua Achebe, Robert Thurman and Yusuf Islam (the former Cat Stevens). Comments about Opening the Doors of Wonder include "Goes far toward helping us understand one another - a much-needed venture in our 9/11 age." -- Henry Louis Gates Jr
Magida's The Rabbi and The Hit Man, the true story of a New Jersey rabbi given life imprisonment for hiring a hit man to kill his wife, was praised for "compelling, "measured," "stately" tone and its "dense, yet tight pacing... that reads like a top-notch crime novel." One critic deemed the book "required reading in all seminaries."
Prophet of Rage: A Life of Louis Farrakhan and His Nation also received critical acclaim: "A key biography of perhaps the most flamboyant African American leader of our time."(The San Francisco Chronicle); "Perceptive, balanced, and vividly evocative..." (The Washington Post.) Magida also wrote How To Be a Perfect Stranger and The Environment Committees, a study of environmental politics commissioned by Ralph Nader.
A professor at Georgetown University, writer-in-residence at the University of Baltimore and consultant to a recent two-hour PBS film on "forgiveness," Magida has been a columnist for the on-line religion magazine, Beliefnet.com; a contributing correspondent to PBS's "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly;" a consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; editorial director of Jewish Lights Publishing, which specializes in books on religion/spirituality; senior editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times; environmental reporter for National Journal; writer/editor for Ralph Nader; director of publications for an energy conservation project; and a reporter for two Pennsylvania newspapers.
His op-eds have appeared in major newspapers around the country and he has free-lanced such publications as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Tikkun, and Geo, Islands and Historic Preservation magazines. His work appears in several anthologies.
Magida is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Religion, Who's Who in the East and International Authors and Writers Who's Who. He has appeared on Dateline, the CBS Early Show, Court TV's "Catherine Crier Live," "The MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour," ABC's "World News Tonight," C-Span's "Booknotes," NPR's "Morning Edition" and an A&E documentary.
He has received 16 Simon Rockower Awards from the American Jewish Press Association; five A.D. Emmart Awards for writing on the humanities; two Smolar Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism; two National Mass Media Certificates of Recognition from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The Fund for Investigative Journalism and The Dick Goldensohn Fund have supported his work. He has spoken at colleges and civic and religious groups around the country.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Louis Farrakhan, August 10, 2000

By 

Darryl Boyd (USA San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prophet Of Rage: A Life Of Louis Farrakhan And His Nation (Paperback)

Prophet Of Rage by Arthur J. Magida, Julian Bond presents as rare and exclusive into the life and leadership of Louis Farrakhan. Louis Muhammed Farrakhan, was born in New York, to a West Indian mother. His birth name was Louis Euegene Walcott. As a child and an young man he was a track star, musician, and college student in North Carolina.

Arthur J. magida, and Julian Bond tells the readers how Farrakhan went from being "The Charmer" to being the National represenative of Elijah Muhammed's Nation Of Islam. After the bitter split between Malcolm X and Mr. Muhammed, Louis Farrakhan became Elijah's biggest supporter. Farrakhan charged with being a hypocrite. He is noted for saying in his speeches that Malcolm X was "A triator worthy of death, and would have meet his death if it was not for the Honorable Elijah Muhammed".

From Malcolm death (Febuary 21, 1965) and before the death of Elijah Muhammed in 1975, Farrakhan became the National represenative of the NOI. Mr. Muhammed praised Farrakhan for his faithfulness, and appointed him as the New York Minister. Louis Farrakhan in a sense was the "new Malcolm", and there is no doubt the he patterned his talking style to his former mentor.

The death of Elijah Muhammed lead Farrakhan to evaluate his direction and purpose, then build a new nation based on the teachings of Elijah Muhammed. On Febuary 26, 1975 the Nation of Islam celebrated it's Savior's Day Celebration. "Master" Farad Muhammed birthday ( Febuary 26) is celebrated as Saviors Day. On Savior's Day 1975, the Nation of Islam announced Wallace D. Muhammed as it's new leader. Farrakhan vowed his loyality to the new Leader. Inspite of his plague of devotion to Wallace, the new leader made far to many changes for Farrakhan to handle. Wallace Muhammed had rapidly moved the Nation of Islam to Orthodox Islam. Wallace also denounced his father, and refuse to reconize Farad as "G-d in person". Wallace also destroyed the Nations race based policy. He changed the organizations name twice first it was the "World Community of Al-Islam in the West", and the "American Muslim Mission". It is clear that Wallace's decision proved to be heavy for Farrakhan. Farrakhan left Wallace's leadership to seek his own platform.

Louis Farrakhan with fellow Muslims who also left Wallace Muhammed, built the "Nation of Islam". The Nation of Islam, headed by Farrakhan was based on the old mystical teaching of Elijah Muhammed. Farrakhan brought back the Fruit of Islam army, the Muslim girls trianing, dress code, and everything that was first created by his Mr. Muhammed.

The wild, crasy, and unorthodox speeches and positions of Louis Farrakhan made him the controversal leader that he is today. In the late 1980's Farrakhan began to attack the Jewish community. He charged them as the "Most powerful people in the World". He has even denounced fellow black leaders as cowards, who are always bowing down the the white man. He has also called himself the "only freed Black man in America". He is also one of the most complex, and has proven to be the most complex.

The arthurs have done an excellent job in there presenation of Louis Farrakhan. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand him, and the Nation of Islam.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very slanted and biased presentation, June 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Prophet Of Rage: A Life Of Louis Farrakhan And His Nation (Hardcover)

Louis Farrakhan -- one of the most controversial people to emerge in recent American history -- demands the full attention of all people. The simple fact that such an individual commands our respect and attention further emphasizes the need for a complete study of him to be made accessible to all. Unfortunately "Prophet of Rage" by Arthur J. Magida does not fulfill this necessity.

Mr. Magida attempts to do too much in his journalistic -- not scholarly -- endeavor. Fully one-third of the book is dedicated not to Farrakhan, but rather to his predecessor the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In this context, Magida's information gives nothing more than a cursory overview. Alas, with the recent (and outstanding) work "An Original Man" by Claude Andrew Clegg III available to give a full picture of this man, Magida's effort could have been ommitted. Another area that Magida should have only made a cursory reference to was the much-publicized rantings of Khallid Muhammad. Instead, the author dedicates a full chapter to a small, albeit noisy, facet of the Nation's recent history. Although these two incidents do contribute to the general history of Minister Farrakhan, Magida's emphasis does not meld easily into giving the reader an understanding of Farrakhan (afterall, the work is presented as a biography) beyond the newspaper headlines we all had easy access to.

Magida's slant and bias show through in a way that, although quite expectable, gives his entire work no credence. The author resorts to defending his religion where it has not been attacked (remember, this is HIS work). He displays a need to offer unwarranted explanations that sway away from the focus of the book -- Farrakhan. Had Magida desired to write a book on Black-Jewish relations, his opinions would have been valid. However, his apologetic style -- sometimes bordering on persecution -- leads the reader on an unwanted parallel. (Note: I do not wish to cite examples. However, please read the discourse on slavery towards the end of the book).

All said, Magida has not given us a deeper undertanding of Farrakhan than anyone even remotely familiar with the man previously possessed. Unfortunately, the presentation he gives to the complete novice is not only slanted, it is also quite unfair. M J Hales

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Prophet of Rage: A Life of Louis Farrakhan and His Nation., July 31, 2001

By 

Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum, Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prophet Of Rage: A Life Of Louis Farrakhan And His Nation (Hardcover)

As his title suggests, Magida structures his account around the biography of Farrakhan, telling about his growing up in Boston, succeeding as an entertainer, joining the NOI, competing with Malcolm X, involving himself in Malcolm's murder, and, to his disappointment, not succeeding to the leadership of the NOI upon Elijah Muhammad's death in February 1975. Farrakhan then felt increasingly alienated as the movement moved rapidly toward Sunni Islam; in November 1977, he finally announced the resurrection of the NOI. Since then, he has been the organization's top theologian, administrator, and spokesman. Magida reviews some of Farrakhan's record over the subsequent years (for example, his efforts to court mainstream black leaders), but focuses mostly on his complex relations with Jews. In addition to the well-known anti-Semitic comments (Judaism is a "dirty religion"), Farrakhan also shows the typical anti-Semite's fascination with things Jewish (for example, structuring the Million Man March along the lines of a Yom Kippur atonement).

Middle East Quarterly, March 1997