The dead are arising : the life of Malcolm X / Les Payne and Tamara Payne.

This is my third Malcolm X book in about 4 months. It's the best of the three in giving a complete picture of Malcolm X. Payne places Malcolm X in his time in a way that reminds the reader of exactly where America was when Malcolm lived. It's astounding how direct Malcolm was with his criticisms of white people in a time when that meant extreme danger. Payne does a good job of conveying the arc of Malcolm's life without giving into narratives that would have him "happily ever after" for white folks. He also uses recently-released documents to give a definitive answer to the question looming over Malcolm's death: who did it? And it's easy to read!!!