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+ 7 o-Ls ‘v. 12-14-64) ————, autobiography presents only in Pathand in some parts unclearly or ambiguously. The first half of the autobio- graphy deals with Malcolm until the age of 27 — his birth in Ne- braska, his childhood in Michigan, " Whe adoles his adolescence in Boston, his drift into hustiing, narcotics and crime in Harlem, his arrest for robbery before he was 21, his 6% years in prison and his introduction to the doctrines of Elijah Muhammad. It explains convincingly why this shrewd young man, who had not believed in anything but how to make a fast buck, was so power- fully attracted to the Black Mus- lims and why he became Muham- mad’s most dedicated and ungues- tioning disciple. Tireless Work The second half includes Mal- colm’s picture of the Black Mus- lims and his tireless work in help- ing to build it from a small sect into an influential national organ- ization (1952-64), and some of the events in the bricf 50 weeks re- maining of his life after he Ieft the Black Muslims. The concep- tion of Malcolm held by the masses in the black ghetto — of an un- compromising and incorruptible militant — jis fully confirmed in these chapters; and with it is evidence of Malcolm’s capacity for continued intellectual growth. Some readers may also be sur- prised by Malccim's sense of humor, his modesty, his respect and hunger for education, and his class-consciousness (in relation to the Negro middle class). Along the way, Malcolm ex~ presses opinions on a wide varicty of subjects, most connected with race relations, but not all. Some of these are acutc, and others are nothing but prejudices (for cx- ample, his unenlightened attitude toward women, which stemmed partly from his experiences as a hustler and was reinforced by Black Muslim doctrine on relations between women and men), His predictions that he would die viol- ently, that he would be killed be- fore thig book was published, and that the press would then identify him with hate and irresponsibility, proved to be all too correct. In addition to the autobiography, e book contains an intreduction by New York Times reporter M.S. flandler (marred by the utterly rong statement that at the end ~ ee, of his life Malcolm ‘no longer in- veighed against the United actor-playwright Ossie Davis, ex- plaining why he gave the eulogy at Maleolm’s funeral; and a 74- page epilogue by Alex Haley, The e epilogue is quite good where Haley is reporting things he per- sonally witnessed and expcricneed — how the book was written, tne tension under which Malcolm lived, how hard he worked, how he felt most at ease among the masses on the streets of Harlem, how aware he was of a tendency to shut his mind to problems he couldn't solve, ete. It is not so good where Haley touches on things like the organizationaY problems facing Af sldenircg ¢ i = - Malcslm and his co-workers, which Maicolm never discussed with him, Halex carries the story up ta Malcolm's assassination and fun= eral, bul this is for the mist part a rouling summary of the news- pauper articles of that time, which were more concerned wilh sensa- tionalizing the developments than with digging into them, One ¢x- ception is Haley’s report that Mal- colm told him, on the phone the day bclore the assassination: “The more I kecp thinking abo this thing, the things that h..+ been happening lately [atlemp on his life], Pm not all that sure it's the Muslims. I know what they can do, and what they can’) anc they can't do some of the siuif recently going on, Now, I’m going to tell you, the more ] keep thinkg- ing about what happened to me in France, 1 think I’m going to quct saying it’s the Muslims.” The next day, an hour before his dcaih, he said the same thing to assucialcs in the anterogm to the Audubon Ballroom. a——— George Breiiman f a tt “~ Twin Gils Are Bova Ve tte od ., To Moteeia aS V. eearrrs Mrs. Betty Shabazz, the 30-year- old widuw of Maicelm X, enue birth ta two girls on Oct, 7 in Brookdale Hospital, Brookivn, Both girls will be named afigr her jatd husband, the Ainsicrdam News of Oct. 9 reporicd. One of the girls will be called Maliki, after Maicolm X's Miuslim first name, Malik. The twins are not identical. ° — an a brief after-wordba Tolson Belmont Mohr DeLoach Casper - Callahan Conrad Felt Gale Rosen Sullivan Tavel Trotter Tele Room Holmes Gandy THE AUTO BIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X conT. - Times Herald The Washington Daily News The Evening Star 5 New York Herald Tribune New York Journal-American New York Daily News New York Post The New York Times The Baltimore Sun The Worker The New Leader The Wall Street Journal The National Observer People’s World Dete ___10/38/65__ THE MILITANT PAGE 4