The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
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Book Overview
This "landmark" (Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist) dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King upends longstanding preconceptions to transform our understanding of the twentieth century's most iconic African American leaders To most Americans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. represent contrasting ideals: self-defense versus nonviolence, black power versus civil rights, the sword versus the shield. The struggle for black freedom is wrought with the same contrasts. While nonviolent direct action is remembered as an unassailable part of American democracy, the movement's militancy is either vilified or erased outright. In The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph upends these misconceptions and reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives. This is a strikingly revisionist biography, not only of Malcolm and Martin, but also of the movement and era they came to define.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:154161786X
ISBN13:9781541617865
Release Date:March 2020
Publisher:Basic Books
Length:384 Pages
Weight:1.37 lbs.
Dimensions:1.5" x 6.1" x 9.3"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
A needed perspective on two iconic civil rights leaders
Published by Kris McP , 2 years ago
These two iconic civil rights leaders of the 1950s and ‘60s met only one time, and even then it was for only a brief moment.
Beginning with this encounter, in this superbly well-written book, Peniel Joseph illustrates how the lives and thinking and leadership of these two men intersected in very unlikely ways.
With life stories as varied as could possibly be for two African-American men, these two complicated men, so very different, competed with and complemented each other in ways seldom recognized. Both men’s legacies were so indelibly and thoroughly marked by their tragic deaths that recovering the true person and his impact on America and indeed the world has become increasingly elusive.
Joseph helps the reader, and history, re-evaluate each man in light of the other’s life and work, leading to renewed insights into their mutual impact.
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