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

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This dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King upends longstanding preconceptions to transform 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 vs. nonviolence, black power vs. civil rights, the sword vs. the shield. The struggle for black freedom is wrought with the same contrasts. While nonviolent direct action is remembered as an unassailable part of American democracy, the movement's militancy is either vilified or erased outright. In The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph upends these misconceptions and reveals a nuanced portrait of two men who, despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives. This is a strikingly revisionist biography, not only of Malcolm and Martin, but also of the movement and era they came to define.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2020

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Peniel E. Joseph

9 books119 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 246 reviews
Profile Image for Raymond.
377 reviews284 followers
April 26, 2020
My review is also published on Medium: https://medium.com/ballasts-for-the-m...

I grew up with a picture of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. hanging on my wall. Malcolm is on the left looking straight at you and King is on the right looking at Malcolm. Growing up I don’t think I ever questioned why King was looking at Malcolm rather than looking straight ahead too, but now I understand after reading Peniel Joseph’s forthcoming book The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. (Release date: March 31, 2020).

Joseph’s book shreds the myths that we have about Martin and Malcolm, specifically that we have viewed them as the complete opposite of the other: the Sword vs. the Shield, Magneto vs. Professor X (Malcolm vs. Martin respectively). Yes, King advocated for nonviolence and X advocated for self-defense, but that is not the whole story. Joseph effectively shows that both leaders evolved to a place where they were more alike at the time of their respective deaths. Malcolm evolves from his more militant black separatist position to one that was more focused on human rights issues while still being a strong advocate for black dignity. King, who was known as the “apostle of nonviolence”, became more radical after Malcolm’s assassination especially as it relates to economic justice issues.

Ultimately, this is a good book for those who think they know these two leaders but are actually unaware of the trajectories their short lives both took. King is more than his “I Have A Dream” speech and Malcolm is more than his “by any means necessary” self-defense mantra. Joseph’s book informs the reader about the sides of these two men that society rarely emphasize.

Thanks to NetGalley, Basic Books, and Peniel Joseph for the free ARC copy in exchange for a honest review.
Profile Image for Mehrsa.
2,235 reviews3,634 followers
July 21, 2020
I think this is a great book for those unfamiliar with Malcolm and Martin, but if you've already read biographies of both and the movement in general, there won't be much that is new in here. I thought it was going to be more focused on analysis, but really it was just a survey of major events and actions of both men. I knew most of the content from having read Joseph's other books along with others.
Profile Image for Eddie.
108 reviews40 followers
June 21, 2020
Malcolm X as the sword wielding,”...black America´s prosecuting attorney” and MLK Jr, the shield carrying “..nation´s chief defense attorney.”

As I was reading about the relationship between Martin & Malcolm, I began thinking about a binary star system (and my knowledge of celestial science is beyond limited, but work with me here). I envisioned these two giants of men spinning around each other, their action plans diverging greatly at the onset. Their gravitational fields - stronger than anything in the vicinity - pulled & pushed on each other and others close to them. Over time they became stronger, brighter, magnetic, and in the end, a sort of convergence of philosophy; almost identical. Even though they were in the same space, history has them meeting only once, but destiny has them linked together forever. Hopefully, The Sword and the Shield will have you in deep reflection as well. This is my third Peniel Joseph book on the shelf. I was waiting for the release of this book and it was worth the wait.
Profile Image for Frances.
101 reviews1 follower
June 30, 2020
This was an incredibly compelling and unbiased view of both of the US's most important civil rights leaders. Like most Americans of this generation, my education was embarrassingly devoid of a proper summary of the events that took place during the civil rights movement, particularly surrounding Malcolm X who is often demonized as a radical. This book gave a comprehensive view of both men's politics, motivation, strategies, and deaths. By the time this book reached it's conclusion, I felt an ache in my heart that these men had been killed for their roles in the fight for equality.
Profile Image for Roger DeBlanck.
Author 7 books134 followers
April 18, 2020
Joseph’s excellent study of Malcolm and Martin expands our perceptions of these monumental leaders to make clear how they influenced each other to the point where distinctions between them seem less important than the more fascinating view of seeing how they both developed and advocated forms of activism sustained by revolutionary ideas.

Joseph assesses Malcolm’s activism as that of a prosecuting attorney who possessed the passion and bluntness to identify racial injustice as a disease and then to charge America justly for its history of crimes against Blacks. After his severance with the Nation of Islam, however, Malcom embraced a willingness to reach out to others dedicated to the same fight of ending racial inequality. Martin’s brand of activism has Joseph likening him to a defense attorney with the mindset and the tempered, measured language of someone demonstrating empathy for those on each side of the racial divide. He, however, came to recognize and warn of the simmering potential for social unrest if progress did not occur in a timely fashion to address injustice.

Joseph recounts how both leaders were committed as ministers in leading a revolution that fought not only for Black dignity and citizenship, respectively, with full social, economic, and human equality, but also for their people to embrace pride in their culture and history. Malcolm attacked the racism inherent within American society and institutions with his evolving focus to connect the civil rights struggle to Third World liberation movements against colonialism. Martin was also prescient in seeing how racism, poverty, and war threatened the entire world’s struggle for equality and how America’s freedom movement reflected global forces of anticolonialism. Both exposed the hypocrisy of America claiming itself as a beacon of democracy for the world to model, while taking no action to end racial oppression from continuing unabated within its own borders.

Malcolm condemned Christianity for justifying and perpetuating America’s sin of slavery and the resulting re-enslavement of Blacks under Jim Crow. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin too echoed Malcolm’s rage and acknowledged Christianity’s complicity with Jim Crow. He expressed appalment at the silence of good people. Seeing how capitalism failed to help the poor and the masses, both saw it as a system that may crumble and where social democracy needed to take over.

Malcolm’s travels to Arab countries and across Africa sparked his vision of oppressed people uniting in their struggle for human rights and self-determination against oppressive regimes. After Martin visited Ghana and India, he compared liberation aboard with the Black freedom struggle in America. He preached a radical message of anticolonialism, and he saw the end of Western imperialism as part of a divine justice for oppressed people around the world. Both Martin and Malcolm remained dedicated to Black internationalism.

Malcolm embraced Islam’s message of rejecting color prejudice because God declared all people equal and part of one humanity. He saw how people of all colors from the Arab world to Africa carried out revolutions for autonomy from Western domination. Martin too looked to his faith to advocate how Christian love and Christ’s teachings served as foundations of nonviolent protest to confront the entrenchment of Jim Crow and change the hearts and minds of segregationists.

Revolutionary action always bristled under Martin’s political shield. He constantly challenged JFK to make racial justice a central mission of his administration. Malcolm also condemned JFK for failing to protect Black people, but as soon as Blacks sought to defend themselves, he afforded troops to keep the peace.

Even as Malcolm voiced separatism during debates and lectures, he inspired Black racial pride and self-determination while he echoed the impact of the decolonialization movement on the freedom struggle in America. He saw self-defense as the foundation of both global anticolonialism in the Third World and the struggle for racial justice in America.

Malcolm knew the March on Washington and Martin’s “Dream” speech constituted components of militant protest, and after his split with the NOI, he quickly inserted himself within the Black freedom movement. His platform raced forward with an agenda of radical human rights, but also with a caveat for a call to arms. Martin warned such a volatile stance would be “ineffective and immoral” in the struggle ahead, and he asserted how the path of nonviolence led to lasting change.

Martin fully embraced Johnson’s agenda that racial justice must coincide with the federal government taking action in an unprecedented war on poverty, for Martin knew any largescale progress of racial justice had to focus on helping the poor. In doing so, he found himself associated with Malcolm’s radicalism that connected the forces of race, war, and economics as sources of injustice.

As Malcolm’s leadership developed, he advocated how the struggle needed to move from civil to human rights with America’s crimes brought before the UN. He sought to build a coalition with the Third World in efforts to gain their support against racism in America. He knew how the message of Islam in accepting people of all races could be used to promote racial, social, and economic justice. He envisioned a global Black community united in solidarity under Pan-Africanism.

In an interview after the passing of the Civil Rights Bill, Malcolm expressed that he and Martin shared the same objective of fighting to gain respect for their people as “human beings.” At the same time, Martin informed Johnson of his intentions to be relentless in ensuring compliance of the law. When Martin went to St. Augustine, Florida to confront White violence against Blacks trying to integrate, Malcolm sent him a telegram offering to send supporters as self-defense.

When Martin was arrested in Selma, Malcolm drove from Tuskegee and spoke in support of Black voting rights and of the movement going forth in Selma. Indeed, the violence in Selma and Watts forced Martin to push Johnson to take federal action with sweeping legislation, which eventually led to the Voting Rights Act. Martin began to echo Malcolm’s human rights refrain, and he defined the movement for equal citizenship as needing to be limitless in its efforts to dismantle the perpetual problems of race, war, and poverty. He also saw the riots across America as an aspect of political protest against the entrenchment of racism and White supremacy. Even though he did not judge the violence, Martin went on to call for nonviolent methods as the best way to achieving human rights.

After Martin condemned the Vietnam War, he became an unvarnished political revolutionary. At this point, Joseph declares Martin as assuming Malcolm’s role of a prosecutor who indicted America for its hypocrisy of using violence and racism abroad under the guise of a war for democracy and liberation, when at home American society committed the same crimes against its most vulnerable and poor people. With this indictment of the war, Martin proved how Johnson’s Great Society had become a victim of Vietnam with America’s energy, money, and resources allotted to the war and not to ending America’s war on racism and poverty.

Martin’s truculence in confronting White supremacy, along with his connecting present injustices with centuries of crime, reflected Malcolm’s brashness when identifying the sources of racism and inequality. Martin began to assert the righteousness of disobeying unjust laws because he saw nothing wrong with defying the sources of evil. In fact, much like Malcom’s call for any means necessary, Martin called for massive civil disobedience to ignite revolutionary change.

By the end of his life, Martin began to echo a nonviolent version of Malcolm in identifying and attacking the damage caused by White racism in producing the inhumane conditions and implementing unjust policies that crushed Black life. Baldwin knew both leaders well and made the assessment that their activism had developed to where “there was practically no difference between them.”

In addition to providing ample biographical sketches of both leaders that show how much their activism came to rely on revolutionary platforms that often mirrored one another, Joseph offers a solid history of the Civil Rights Movement, its organizations, and its other major figures. While showing how both great leaders represented aspects of the sword and shield, the lasting impression Joseph’s study conveys is how Malcolm and Martin gave their lives in the service of oppressed people. Their vital impact on the momentousness of history shaped progress during their lives, and their legacy continues to offer hope for America and the larger world in its ongoing struggle to recognize and accept all people with dignity as human beings.
Profile Image for Emily.
674 reviews24 followers
March 31, 2021
First off, listening to this book on audio does not do it justice. A comparative philosophy of two of the greatest political thinkers in American history isn't easily processed through one's ears and I would like to reread this again with my eyes someday. That said, I enjoyed it immensely and also learned things. The book starts off with each man's childhood and that's standard; I didn't know much about Malcolm X's childhood but I don't know enough about Malcolm X so I appreciated that. Then the book gets into each man's political development in the context of their lives, which explained so much about their politics. The fraternal disagreements between all the prominent civil rights organizations is well-explained; I've come across a few mentions of various civil rights camps during the '50s and a biography of Thurgood Marshall a while ago mentioned that when civil rights victories started coming mostly through the courts the common people were mostly rendered unhelpful except as donors, and that made more sense when Joseph explained the differences between Dr. King and Roy Wilkins. This also made me look up the Roy Wilkins Auditorium and he was from St. Paul. Meanwhile, Malcolm X toed the line between his role as a faith leader and his faith's aversion to politics. Malcolm and Martin only met for five minutes one day outside the U.S. Capitol, but the convergence of their philosophies, especially after Malcolm X's assassination as Dr. King began to attack systemic racism and poverty and his falling out with Johnson White House. Am reading the Caro and am assuming he didn't fawn over Johnson enough. Biographies always end sadly and the civil rights era finishes like a damn Shakespeare play. I recommend this book well.
Profile Image for Frank Almaraz.
38 reviews1 follower
February 15, 2024
Although some of their tactics and methods antagonized each other, they also complemented each other. While Malcom X could be described as a prosecutor (holding the US accountable for human rights violations), King would be characterized as a defense attorney (defending the humanity of black people in the face of Jim Crow and widespread institutional racism). Their dual strategies complemented each other and have served as a blueprint for equality worldwide.
Profile Image for Andre.
570 reviews170 followers
October 3, 2020
Excellent scholarship, thorough research, approachable prose, the ingredients necessary for a meaningful and necessary contribution to the study of Malcolm and Martin and their philosophies that were in constant flux influenced by not only each other, but by international travel, aides, and adversaries. I came away impressed by the way Peniel Joseph weaved the biographies of Malcolm and Martin together in a linear time line , so one could easily grasp the changes in rhetoric, strategy and philosophy as it happened. That kept this text thoroughly engaging and underscored the willingness of both titans to be flexible and open to shift gears on the road to delivering our people to that elusive goal of freedom. Whenever the subject of Malcolm and Martin is breached the debate is often cast as integration vs separation, and/or violence vs. self-defense. This text does an excellent job of debunking those simplistic battles for a more nuanced look. And by the time of Martin's death he sounded more like Malcolm than anyone could have imagined just three years earlier. The brilliance here is in amplifying the voices so you can easily hear what you may have easily missed in books and articles of lesser scholarship.
Profile Image for Jania Hoover.
25 reviews4 followers
December 19, 2020
I read Joseph’s biography of Stokely Carmichael a while ago and took a history class with him last summer. He has a way of showing the story behind the myths so many of us have accepted as fact. For most of my life, I believed that Malcolm and Martin were polar opposites, grossly oversimplifying the nuance in their positions.

Joseph did a really good job of explaining and comparing/contrasting their beliefs, as well as how close each came to the other’s side the closer they got to the end of their lives.

Very good read.
Profile Image for Richard de Villiers.
77 reviews1 follower
May 16, 2020
Considering my political inclinations, classical liberal/Reagan Conservative, you would think that this work would not appeal to me. You could not be more wrong, which speaks not just to the importance of the figures involved but the exceptional work of the author. Joseph points out that our images of both MLK and Malcolm have ossified over time and frankly, they could not be more wrong. The saintly MLK that is venerated every holiday marking his birth is a false image. It is an MLK with his sharp angles smoothed out. The warrior for social justice is either forgotten or not mentioned. The the bomb-throwing rhetoric of Malcolm X also does not reflect the evolution of his ideology and faith. Joseph does not pretend that elements of his thesis are new. He quotes James Baldwin who wrote about his mutual friends and how their paths ultimately converged towards the end of their lives.
I cannot praise this work enough. It is an exceptional dual biography that traces not only the lives but the intellectual journeys these two men. Joseph's knowledge of the period is apparent. He builds on the work of other biographies but also culls from primary sources to provide perspective. This should be your first stop if you want to learn about Malcolm, Martin and their troubled times. Leave your ideological hang-ups at the door and read this book.
Profile Image for Dianne.
179 reviews
July 8, 2020
This was an audiobook. The words and work of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr are just as relevant and worthy as in the 70s. In the time of "I can't breathe" and Black Lives Matter, this book makes very clear how little has changed for black Americans. The import of the book was to show that the two men were not really as different as our history has wanted to tell us. MLK was also a warrior type; he just had more hope that white America could evolve. Great book. Yes, read it.
Profile Image for kay.
331 reviews4 followers
February 16, 2024
He (James Baldwin) remained fascinated by the complex human beings they both were, rather than the romantic clichés they were becoming.

I knew very little either of these men beyond the basic rhetoric. I think this book gives an excellent overview of the lives and work of Malcolm and MLK within the surrounding context of civil rights. Joseph presents both of them honestly, not overlooking their flaws. Two imperfect people who fought endlessly, attacked on all fronts, to have their inherent dignity as Black human beings recognized.

It was a failure of political will, explained Malcolm, that caused the richest nation on earth to be wracked by poverty, unemployment, and miserable living conditions.

I am impressed by the man who came from humble beginnings, educated in prison and became an anchor for a disenfranchised community. While we can criticize faults in his views, we cannot judge him for his (some proven valid) concerns about the democratic approach to obtaining recognition as equal citizens.

From slavery, to convict leasing, to segregation, to redlining, to the War on "Drugs," to biased and brutal policing, it's not hard to understand Malcolm's wariness to put his trust in that a peaceful approach would motivate change. He cared deeply about his Black brothers and sisters in such a deep way that had him often calling out injustice against them.

"I have the audacity," King explained, "to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits."

I am humbled by the man who bore the heavy burden of being the face of the movement. To be the one who remained hopeful about what America would be. To face criticism and compromise. To preach Christian love as a motivator even amidst physical violence and death threats.
Profile Image for H..
344 reviews1 follower
January 3, 2021
I wish I had understood better the style and goals of Peniel E. Joseph before plunging into this, because then perhaps I would not be as disappointed as I am. The title The Sword and the Shield promises a passionate dual biography of two behemoth historical figures. But this is not a personal biography. It instead closely tracks the two men's political moves, and little else. I left it with little sense of who Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were as people. Much of the book is dry as bones, spouting out locations and dates exhaustively. I would have welcomed a less precise run-down of factoids in exchange for an exploration of their personal lives. One example of how minimized their personal lives are: In a description of a speech Malcolm X gave in Harlem, Joseph mentions, "[listeners] gave him presents for his newborn daughter." As far as I know, this is the only mention of any of Malcolm X's children. Betty Shabazz's name is mentioned zero times, a gaping lacuna that I still wonder at.

I had wanted this to be as illuminating and humanizing as a biography like Jeffrey C. Stewart's The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke, a book which made me feel like I understood perfectly who Alain Locke was, to the point where I could correctly predict Locke's actions and decisions in response to various events in his life. MLK and Malcolm X were not painted nearly so clearly to me—in fact, MLK is fuzzier than ever, as Joseph tried to de-mythologize the man but never sought to humanize him in the process. Joseph writes about Malcolm X: "[N]eat juxtapositions make for good storytelling but poor history," saying that immediately after his death Malcolm X was reduced to the "bad," pro-segregationist Malcolm and the "good," post-hajj, enlightened Malcolm. And yet after reading this book that is exactly how Malcolm X's life is split in my head! Those broad brushstrokes were my takeaway.

I think this is a useful resource, perhaps especially for teachers looking to better understand how these two men's lives intersected. Yet I think there are many sources that are better, and if someone wanted to write another dual biography about them in the future I think there would be plenty to write about that cannot be found here.
Profile Image for Terence.
1,188 reviews427 followers
April 22, 2021
Joseph argues in this book that Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King’s goals and strategies were more often complementary rather than adversarial, and became more so as both men matured and grew in the experience of representing black struggles for justice and equality. I wish I had more extensive knowledge about the time and its actors but the author’s argument is persuasive, and it’s an impression I’ve always had about the two men.

And it’s topical – oh, is it topical – as I write these words in mid-April 2021. The Civil Rights Era made enormous gains but conservative and racist agents began to mount efforts to reverse them before the ink was dry on Johnson’s legislation. An assault that only grew in intensity (and, unfortunately, efficacy) after Reagan became president in 1980; when the Democratic Party, like their Republican counterparts during Reconstruction, abandoned their commitment to civil rights and threw in their lot with Republicans.

There’s a passage about halfway through the book where Joseph is quoting from a speech Malcolm X gave where he’s talking about what he would do to achieve racial equality that reads as if it were written today: “He promised to form whatever is necessary – whether it’s a black nationalist party or black nationalist army – to achieve black citizenship that would end police brutality, eliminate the newly instituted stop-and-frisk law, and integrate public schools” (182-3).

And politicians’ and the media’s responses were similar to those from today. The former (for the most part) were cowards who only supported the movement when it became clear is was unstoppable; and, even so, they tried to rein it in when its politics became “too radical.” And the latter treated the “good” activists with kid gloves, while excoriating others as violent subversives who, if not communists themselves, were controlled by them. As long as King’s speeches remained limited to civil rights, he was a media darling. When his analysis of U.S. society became broader, more probing and critical, they tried to ignore him. Malcolm X drew the media because of his fiery prose but God forbid anyone address the substance of his arguments – or at least why he was so angry.

Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Robyn Hammontree.
250 reviews32 followers
December 20, 2020
So many books about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King want to tell you who they were instead of who they grew to be. I appreciate how well this book followed their evolutions as people and activists, and how neither of them fit neatly into the boxes we want to put them in.
Profile Image for Nick Holevar.
24 reviews
June 18, 2021
Good intro to the the lives of these two radical figures.

If you already studied Malcolm or REALLY studied Martin (I'm talking more than just three campaigns) a lot will feel the same. However, great analysis towards the end!
Profile Image for Melanie.
338 reviews2 followers
March 23, 2022
Great portrait of the two most important icons of the civil rights movement - Malcom and Martin. This is a well researched and in depth account of the early beginnings of each (Malcolm from a life of poverty, hustling, and prison while King enjoyed a more middle class upbringing) and their rise in the political consciousness throughout the civil rights era. While often viewed as adversaries politically today, this account illustrates how they were often two sides of the same coin and the convergence later in their careers to similar points of view in the quest for radical black dignity. In particular, King is often distilled today in popular press as the idealist focused on a dream of peace for all but in fact he was a complicated man who, in the last years of his too short life, became one of the most vocal opponents of the Vietnam war, criticized a sitting president (for whom he once considered an ally), and championed the poor above all else. Great biographical view (if a bit dense to get through at times).
441 reviews
March 31, 2021
Well written, analytical, successfully ambitious book reviewing the lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. and the evolution of their philosophical and political approaches to America’s issues with race, civil rights and economic injustice. This book is not a quick read but rather one that deserves careful, thoughtful reading and reflection.

This revisionist biography illuminates and analyzes two historic men who, “despite markedly different backgrounds, inspired and pushed each other throughout their adult lives.” As the book’s jacket notes, “King was more revolutionary, and Malcolm more pragmatic, than we ‘ve been told” and led to believe. The book quite possibly is and will be viewed as “the definitive history of not only the revolutionary lives and political impact of these leaders, but also of the movement and era they came to define.” A monumental and informative read!
Profile Image for Tamyka .
330 reviews8 followers
January 19, 2023
I think this is a great 101 reader for someone looking to better understand Malcolm X and MLKJr. Is there new information in this text for those who have previously studied either man? NO, however, it was still well written and I found it to be a good, refresher of the lives and legacies of both men. There is a sense of objectivity to the text without sterility which again is helpful cause it leaves room for you to make and accept whatever truth you want to accept but I personally liked that there was no dressing up the mess of either man which I think is important to ensure they remain humanized rather than idolized Gods above reproach. Also it’s helpful to remember that you don’t have to be always right, get it right the first time, or be perfect, to be a change maker. Amen.
Profile Image for Scott Wall.
68 reviews4 followers
March 29, 2021
the core thesis of this volume was what i was looking for -- a way to reconcile these two figures, and move away from the over-simplified way they are often discussed as opposites.
the radical late-King (that Joseph claims was shaped by Malcolm) is a key revelation to me. it's interesting to consider that while King caused ripples and fought battles when pushing for race equality and radical black citizenship in the early 60s...it was only when he began pushing for economic, labour, and democratic reform that he lost his moderate audience. race equality...ok, we'll give you that. but economic accountability...you better watch your back.
Profile Image for Janis.
564 reviews4 followers
June 19, 2021
Peniel E. Joseph compares and contrasts the lives of two major civil rights leaders in The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Generally, the book is organized chronologically, starting with the civil rights movements of the 1950s. This approach provides an in-depth analysis of how the two men influenced each other throughout their lives and how Malcolm X’s more radical views eventually influenced King’s approach to black activism. Joseph also thoughtfully explores the legacy of each man and their impacts on current-day racial protest movements such as Black Lives Matter.
Profile Image for Temi Agbaje.
40 reviews1 follower
April 14, 2023
I originally was looking for a book that talked about Malcom X's life and stumbled across this one. It was such an in-depth look at both the lives of Malcom and MLKjr and how they crossed during the civil rights era. Super fascinating!
350 reviews23 followers
June 8, 2020
Read if you: Want a challenging but fascinating dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

There are many biographies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X; as they were contemporaries ((who rarely actually interacted), biographies of each man will include some information/context about the other. The Sword and the Shield is fascinating and unique in that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr are both featured on most pages. As their backgrounds, beliefs, and actions were mostly very different (although Peniel does effectively convey how King's cynicism and beliefs were significantly changed toward the end of his life), this makes for a compelling and invigorating read.

Librarians and booksellers: This is a fantastic addition to your civil rights history and biography sections. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Perseus Books/Basic Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Thomas Johnstone.
27 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2020
Sad to see alot of the same issue plaguing there era still beeing a problem today. As a Norwegian not really knowing anything about King our Malcolm. Like Malcolm being a Muslim, and King a socialist. it was really interesting to learn about them! I really recommend this book to other people.
Profile Image for Leslie Thomas.
157 reviews4 followers
January 31, 2022
I found this book to flesh out the work of both leaders and better understand their work and legacies. It connected a lot of dots for me about what was happening in the world at that time. Should be required reading.
Profile Image for Trevor Seigler.
705 reviews8 followers
March 1, 2024
In life and in legend, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. stand as diametrically opposed figures in American history. Black men who came of age in an era of white supremacy and unchecked intolerance towards minorities, each sought to alleviate the suffering of their people and to put white America on notice. Malcolm began as a minister in the Nation of Islam, calling for Black separation and self-defense, while King, a Baptist minister, came to a more inclusive, integrated solution. That's the legend, anyway. But as Peniel E. Joseph makes clear, the legend falls far short of the reality. Malcolm and Martin were closer in thought than one might think based on received wisdom and inaccurate history class texts.

"The Sword and the Shield" is a fantastic, eye-opening text that showcases the ways in which each man was influenced by the other and how each modified his approach to civil rights in the wake of the other's efforts. Malcolm, a product of Garveyites from the Midwest, fell into a life of crime but was saved by the Black Muslim movement. Martin, the son of a progressive preacher in Atlanta, made his way through college and found himself unable to avoid becoming a preacher himself. Both men used religion to expose the lie at the heart of American democracy: we say that all men are created equal, but we don't live it.

In history, the Muslim minister and the Christian preacher were set off against one another because of their differing philosophies, but in truth each man saw something in the other that motivated him to move towards a common ground. Eventually rejecting the hatred he was taught by Elijah Muhammad and embracing a more orthodox form of Islam, Malcolm spent his last year of life becoming open to more integrated approaches to achieving Black rights in America. Martin, meanwhile, acknowledged the pain faced by many of his followers and the reasons why they reacted with violence when violence was visited upon them by whites. Both men saw the folly of America's involvement in Vietnam early on, with King living long enough to see himself branded a pariah for daring to suggest that the war was morally indefensible. And both men addressed the systemic racism that fuels economic disparity to this day.

I have to admit that early on, I was a little disappointed with the book. Having read Malcolm X's autobiography as well as Manning Marable's masterful biography of him, and Jonathan Eig's expansive portrait of MLK that was published last year, I found the first couple of chapters merely restating things that I already knew. But I kept reading, and I began to enjoy Joseph's efforts to show the ways in which Malcolm and Martin led each other to a deeper understanding of America's original sin. The weaving together of biographical detail really comes together when both men are at the crossroads of their lives (Malcolm in the wake of his exit from the NOI, Martin in the aftermath of his speech at Riverside Church where he first declared the immorality of the Vietnam War), and how each man dealt with their new realities of being cast into negative tones by those around them. King was a hero who became persona non grata for many who had once supported him, while Malcolm was marked for death by the very people who had helped him become their spokesman. Both would die violently, under circumstances where the official verdict would never be accepted by those who knew how much each man meant to the power structures in America, and both would become martyrs not just to Black Americans but to anyone who saw the madness of racism in the world and knew that the powers that be would never change unless forced to do so. Malcolm and Martin, divided as they were in some ways, were united by their deaths three years apart.

Sixty years since their first and only meeting (in the halls of the Senate building), Malcolm and Martin continue to stand in the eyes of many as rivals for how Black America can be. But the men behind the legends were more complicated and more complementary than we might think. "The Sword and the Shield" gives us a fresh perspective on their relationship and why each man continues to speak to us so many decades after each drew his last breath. It's a beautiful tribute to the message that each sought to spread around the world: Black Lives Matter.
Profile Image for Chris.
109 reviews1 follower
May 25, 2022
There's a traditional dynamic that's taught in school when you teach the civil rights movement: Martin Luther King, Jr. is the nonviolent integrationist and Malcolm X is the more radical separatist who's willing to defend Black dignity "by any means necessary." Boiler plate lesson plans had you comparing and contrasting seminal writings from the leaders to emphasize this point.

The Sword and the Shield doesn't contradict this line of thinking, but it does a lot to complicate it. It's reductive, for instance, to think that these two men weren't always changing and adapting in the face of new information and circumstance. And the fact is, this is often happened in response to each other! Much has been made of Malcolm's evolving thoughts on race relations, especially after breaking from the Nation of Islam, but King also had an influence on making him more open about coalition building with people he once believed were too untrustworthy.

While Malcolm moved closer to King just prior to his death, the reverend was also in transit, moving closer to Malcolm when it came to being a gadfly to white politicians who were once his allies on issues ranging from voting rights, economic justice, and the war in Vietnam. His time discussing the plight of Black citizens in the North, in places like Watts, helped him better understand where his rival was coming from. King began to understand, as he once put it, that having access to the lunch counter was only helpful if Black citizens had means to purchase a hamburger as well.

This book is a great example of how important is for great leaders to have ideological opponents making good faith arguments, because those are the people who become the greatest teachers. I'm currently reading Amanda Ripley's High Conflict, a title that refers to an unproductive, endless conflict. Ripley contrasts this with good conflict, which she defines as "friction that can be serious and intense but leads somewhere useful." King and Malcolm exemplify this.
Profile Image for Haddi Bergstrom.
103 reviews4 followers
April 21, 2022
As someone with only a passing knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I found this book to be fascinating and completely compelling. Like many people my age (40 something) I grew up celebrating MLK Day and learning the history of the Civil Rights Movement as MLK and his 'good' non-violent strategies vs. Malcom X and his 'bad' radical/violent strategies. Clearly, this version of history is extremely limited if not simply untrue and most certainly does not capture the complex and nuanced nature of these men and the Civil Rights Movement in America.

I recently listened to the Autobiography of Malcolm X with Alex Haley and found that hearing his own words and perspective allows for a much more in-depth understanding of the man and his motivations. Peniel E. Joseph continues in this tradition of discussing both MLK and Malcolm X's experiences and understandings of the world to better grasp the underlying reasons for their particular strategies throughout the Civil Rights era. I also appreciated that Joseph allowed and documented the changes in philosophy of both leaders throughout their lives. These men were complex, imperfect, and learned from their life experience (both good and bad) thus, they were not the monoliths that our history makes them out to be, but rather they were humans, doing the best they could with the resources they had to bring more justice to the people they loved.

I found this history to be very readable, never dull, and full of insights that caused me to stop and think about my own perceptions of MLK, Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as my own complicity in the systems of harm that continually allow and encourage injustice in our society. I have no reservations about recommending this book to everyone!

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28 reviews
January 6, 2021
I highly recommend this. I read it after watching Spike Lee's Malcolm X, the terrific series "Who Killed Malcolm X?" and Selma, and it was a great accompaniment to those works, helping make some lateral connections between historical events.

Joseph traces the parallel lives & movements of Malcolm & MLK to argue that they influenced each other very much, changed dramatically over the course of their lives, and developed interlocking, interweaving movements. It's a mistake to frame them as simply foils of each other, like we often do, or at least as I was taught in a mostly white school system.

Malcolm was more pragmatic than we think, and his beliefs on the right to self-defense were one part of a much larger philosophy on radical Black self-determination and Black dignity, very much in the legacy of Marcus Garvey. Malcolm, and the larger movement for Black nationalism, eventually encouraged MLK to think more about structural racism, manifest in everything from criminal justice to housing to foreign policy, and how it would live on even after defeating Jim Crow.

MLK's legacy, meanwhile, has been re-narrated as more gentle and mainstream than it actually was. So much so that Ronald Reagan signed the bill creating MLK day, even though Reagan opposed both MLK's tactics and goals of radical Black citizenship. From 1965 on, especially after Malcolm's assassination, MLK became a radical on Vietnam, poverty, and the pace of racial progress in ways that created rifts between him and the mass media and the LBJ administration.
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