The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

by Joseph E Peniel and Peniel E. Joseph

Book Overview

This "landmark" (Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist) dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King transforms our understanding of the twentieth century's most iconic African American leaders.

To most Americans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. represent contrasting ideals: self-defense versus nonviolence, Black Power versus civil rights, the sword versus the shield. The...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1541619617
• ISBN13: 9781541619616
• Release Date: October 2021
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A needed perspective on two iconic civil rights leaders

These two iconic civil rights leaders of the 1950s and ‘60s met only one time, and even then it was for only a brief moment. Beginning with this encounter, in this superbly well-written book, Peniel Joseph illustrates how the lives and thinking and leadership of these two men intersected in very unlikely ways. With life stories as varied as could possibly be for two African-American men, these two complicated men, so very different, competed with and complemented each other in ways seldom recognized. Both men’s legacies were so indelibly and thoroughly marked by their tragic deaths that recovering the true person and his impact on America and indeed the world has become increasingly elusive. Joseph helps the reader, and history, re-evaluate each man in light of the other’s life and work, leading to renewed insights into their mutual impact.