Exploring the Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.: An In-Depth Look at the Sword and the Shield

Amazon Customer: Good book nice easy read I enjoyed it good read to get a outline on what happened to them . I recommend it go for it

United Kingdom on Apr 07, 2023

Darrell: A book that has taught me more about two black heroes and phenomenal leaders than I ever knew existed. At first glance, this book could be discerned as a delineation of two black, historical figures with flaws that almost outshined their righteous endeavors. However, after acknowledging the imperfect human natures that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. possessed in this book that, I was able to perceive the gravity that their presence and name brought to the global economy. They did not settle. They did not quit when hampered by friend or foe. They both equally believed in one's resolve to enliven a reality that would equalize a nation, and the world, for all to live freely, unbothered by the color of anyone’s skin. Complimenting and assisting the other on a journey that once appeared as opposition to the other, later distinguished an unbelievable dynamic force. Alive they fought for and, posthumously, achieved radical black dignity and citizenship for those rendered less than human, less than equal. Although the fight for equality continues in a myriad of ways, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. are both venerated and honored as exemplary, historical leaders.

United States on Sep 11, 2021

Wally Wood: The subtitle of Professor Joseph’s dual biography is “The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr,” and the book’s goal is to demonstrate that King was more revolutionary and Malcolm more pragmatic than the general view of the two leaders. Given the current state of race relations in America, the book could not be more timely.

Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and is the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. His five earlier books include The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black Power Era; Waiting ‘til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America; and Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama.

He acknowledges from the beginning that there were substantive differences between Malcolm and Kain, in the role of violence in organizing a political revolution and on the source of racial oppression. But a binary understanding of the men is incomplete.

“Two-dimensional characterization of their activism, relationship, and influence,” he writes,...

United States on Aug 29, 2020

T J Ganski: This book juxtaposes MLK with Malcolm X and in doing so brings more clarity to the effectiveness of both by virtue of their almost symbiotic existence.

I am one who has grown to admire how MLK maintained his commitment to peaceful direct action protests throughout his all too short life.

I have also been curious about Malcolm X who made several serious transformations through his all too short life. As a white person, I have always been leery of Malcolm X as he is too often presented as an advocate of violence among races as a way to make progress.

This book helped clarify for me that all is not as it seems. The implication is that MLK would not have been as effective with non-violence had there not been Malcolm X articulately legitimizing the likelihood that violence would be the only way to break the yoke of racism in our country.

On the other side of the coin, it is unlikely Malcolm X would have made his final transformation without the example of MLK.

The impact of both men is best exemplified in their attendance at the Senate hearings and brief encounter for the Civil Rights Act. Just having them both there likely kept the Senators focused....

United States on Jun 06, 2020

Eddie Hutchinson: As I was reading about the relationship between Martin & Malcolm, I began thinking about a binary star system (and my knowledge of celestial science is beyond limited, but work with me here). I envisioned these two giants of men spinning around each other, their action plans diverging greatly at the onset. Their gravitational fields - stronger than anything in the vicinity - pulled & pushed on each other and others close to them. Over time they became stronger, brighter, magnetic, and in the end, a sort of convergence of philosophy; almost identical. Even though they were in the same space, history has them meeting only once, but destiny has them linked together forever. Hopefully, The Sword and the Shield will have you in deep reflection as well. This is my third Peniel Joseph book on the shelf. I was waiting for the release of this book and it was worth the wait.

United States on Apr 19, 2020