Malcolm X: The Last Speeches (Malcolm X speeches & writings) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Bruce Perry (Editor) "By 1963, the differences between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad had come to a head..." (more)
Key Phrases: token integration, worldwide revolution, Elijah Muhammad, United States, Black Muslim (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Six transcripts of hitherto unavailable speeches and interviews revealing the matured thought of Malcolm X during his final years... [T]he interviews and final speeches are artifacts of unusual scholarly significance.... vital to a true understanding of the mature mind of this remarkable voice of American black protest. College, university, and public libraries." -- Choice

Product Description

Any kind of movement for freedom of Black people based solely within the confines of America is absolutely doomed to fail. Speeches and interviews from the last two years of his life.

Includes: Index, Chronology, Annotation

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Pathfinder Press (NY) (June 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873485432
• ISBN-13: 978-0873485432
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #195,867 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "There's a worldwide revolution going on", July 20, 2002

By	"radwriteluv" (by HolyAtlanta) - See all my reviews

Dr. Bruce Perry, former collaborator, more recently biographer of Malcolm X, searched for decades after Malcolm X died for more speeches and interviews by Malcolm X. He spent years tracking down the man who had the tapes that led to this book, finding him in the rain forest jungles of Guyana, and being able to interview him while the revolutionary government of Marice Bishop still ruled Grenada. He knew Pathfinder would publish them, because Pathfinder was the publisher Malcolm X chose while he was alive to publish his work, because they believe in Malcolm X's words because they are Malcolm's.
There are three sections, two speeches given before Malcolm split from the Nation of Islam from January and February 1963, two interviews from december 1964, and the last two speeches we have in full, one he gave February 15, 1965 and another he gave the next day. Malcolm X was murdered on February 21, 1965.
You can judge for yourself how Malcolm X grew and changed.l One thing, it wasn't to become someone just into peace and love and non-violence and all sorts of silly things that people say, but that Malcolm X never was into. I just leave you with the contrast in titles. The titles of the 1963 speeches are "Twenty million Black people in a political, economic, and mental prison" anmd "America's gravest crisis since the civil war," rooted in the problems of Black people in America. The speeches given in the last week of his life speak of the world: :There's a world wide revolution going on" and L:Not just an American problem, but a world problem."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Malcolm X, July 4, 2002

By	Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

If your view of Malcolm X is from the Spike Lee movie, reading this book and the other books of speeches from his last year "Malcolm X: The Final Speeches" will turn your head around. Malcolm is depicted as a purely humanist, apolitical person, after his trip to Mecca who simply loved everyone. The speeches and interviews from his last year show him as an increasingly political person who was working with Cuban, Congolese, Algerian revolutionists and with revolutionary socialists in the United States to fight for African liberation and against the growing US War in Indochina.

Moreover, Malcolm's speeches from this year also document the reactionary and corrupt practices of the Nation of Islam under Elijah Muhammad and its terror campaign against Malcolm and anyone else who dissent. He had held back from this, but he needed to do this to expose the threats against himself and his family.

As in his other speeches and interviews Malcolm speaks in a voice with lots of practical school-of-hard-knocks knowledge and reasoning, in a soul stirring, voice, with lots of wit as well as wisdom thrown in.


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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Malcolm X's Words: A Guide To Action Today !, July 11, 2002

By	Andrew Hunt (Reseda, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has all of the themes that Malcolm spoke about during the last year of his life. He patiently explains over and over that the U.S. government is not and can't be "ours", not without a revolution : it is theirs, it belongs to the superrich
( mostly -white ) man. He calls this system " the power structure" or, most scientifically of all, then and now, "Western, or American, imperialism". He speaks of the need for Blacks in "America" to be proud of their African roots;
the need to become and to stay politically independent of the twin parties of capitalist racism; of women's equality and dignity - that's right ; it's one of the main reasons he broke from the Nation of Islam - and he speaks of the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cuban revolutions as examples to emulate HERE. Above all he teaches you , of whatever color , creed ,or sex , to start with the standpoint that most of the people in the world are your potential allies and what is called " America" - the U.S. government and the Yanqui Empire - is your and my deadly enemy. Anti-capitalist and pro-socialist, this is not the Malcolm of biographers, or movie directors, or other "interpreters" - it is Malcolm X speaking for himself, putting forward a line of march relevant to every fighter for meaningful social change today, tomorrow, and beyond.