Malcolm X was a country bumpkin who became a zoot-suited entertainer; who became a petty criminal; and, who became a self-taught intellectual. This title chronicles these many incarnations of Malcolm X, describing the multiple masks he donned over the years.

'Groundbreaking ... It will be difficult for anyone to better this book ... a work of art, a feast that combines genres skilfully: biography, true-crime, political commentary. It gives us Malcolm X in full gallop' Wil Haygood, Washington Post

'He was a country bumpkin who became a zoot-suited entertainer who became a petty criminal who became a self-taught intellectual ... In his revealing and prodigiously researched new biography, Marable vividly chronicles these many incarnations of Malcolm X, describing the "multiple masks" he donned over the years' Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

'Explodes the myths that obscure the real man' Hugh Muir, Guardian

'By the end of the 1960s, Malcolm's disciples had elevated him to what Manning Marable calls "secular sainthood" ... But Marable resists the temptation of hagiography and fills in the gaps left by previous books. He gives us Malcolm in all his self-contradiction and self-doubt' Yo Zushi, New Statesman

'Lucid, hugely researched and surely definitive ... an extraordinary story' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

'Here at last is the meticulous portrait he deserves' Andrew Anthony, Observer