Making Malcolm

In a rare and important book, Dyson probes the myths and meanings of Malcolm X for our time. From Spike Lee's film biography to Eugene Wolfenstein's psychobiographical study, from hip-hop culture to gender and racial politics, Dyson cuts a critical swath through both the idolization and the vicious caricatures that have undermined appreciation of Malcolm's greatest accomplishments.

Michael Eric Dyson is an ordained Baptist minister and Professor of Communications Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of the widely acclaimed Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, andRolling Stone.