I was going to give this a four star. Well written, learned a lot of new things, concise and to the point. But then I got to the chapter on Islam and there is only a very brief and watered down mention of Malcolm X criticisms of Elijah Muhammad and no mention at all of how he was likely killed by NOI thugs.

One might argue that the author just didn’t have time to go into this, Yet in the very same chapter he writes multiple paragraphs criticizing Wallace Muhammad (Elijah’s son), who pushed the organization in a direction closer to mainstream Islam (thereby, the author claims, neutralizing it’s nationalist ideology). He also spends no time discussing Malcom X move towards authentic Islam while remaining a black nationalist.

For those interested, Malcom X called out Elijah Muhammad as a racist thug who built an exploitive cult to enrich himself and rape women. Leaving this out is particularly egregious in light of the slavish accolades given to Elijah Muhammad’s self appointed successor, Farrakhan, who unlike Malcolm X & Wallace Muhammad, continues to propagate Elijah’s racist, fraudulent cult. ( )