The Diary of Malcolm X, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, 1964
Chicago: Third World Press, 2013. The long-awaited publication of Malcolm X’s 1964 diary, which details his trip to Africa and the Middle East, including his pilgrimage to Mecca. The entries provide intimate access to Malcolm’s thoughts, experiences and trepidations, which are helpfully annotated by the editors and supplemented with commentary, biographical material and photographs pulled from the Malcolm X Estate and other archives.
Although Malcolm intended to publish the diary as a follow up to his autobiography, his assassination in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem delayed publication by nearly 50 years. Discovered in a Florida storage unit, the diary was nearly auctioned off before legal action led to its eventual placement at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Edited by Herb Boyd and Malcolm’s daughter, Ilyasah, Haki Madhubuti contributes a foreword and James Cone an Afterword. Importantly, although the book could have presumably been published by a major publishing house, the editors chose the long-standing black publishing house Third World Press in Chicago.
8vo. Blue cloth boards, xxi, 236 p., dust jacket. A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Uncommon in the trade. Item #15104
Price: $125.00