Booklist Review
From biography to documentary, from theater to television to film, now is the time to speak of Malcolm X, and each new expositor must search for something to say--a new focus or a new angle. This is a collection of declassified documents from the FBI surveillance of the orator and religious (later political) leader that, with historian Carson's studious commentary, focuses less on Malcolm's relation to the FBI and more on that to the larger civil rights movement. These excerpts (his file contains more than 3,000 pages) follow his travels and speeches, media interviews and FBI interviews, oftentimes including transcripts as written or summarized by Gallen and Carson. FBI hostility can be sensed in their focus on his infamous "white devils" teachings, and--later--his keen analysis of LBJ as "the fox" versus Goldwater as "the wolf." Yet, despite this hostility and their ever-present search for some connection to communism or the KKK, the FBI comes across as an outside, "unintentioned" observer. Those who understand the racism and paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover and his "intelligence" operation will wonder--as does filmmaker Spike Lee in his introduction--what records have been destroyed and what is not revealed in this collection. All in all, this volume will serve as a valuable resource for students of Malcolm X, who will want to see his genius in the context of a diverse, changing civil rights movement. (Reviewed Dec. 15, 1991)0881847518Angus Trimnell