The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph
The Sword and the Shield, Peniel E. Joseph
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The Sword and the Shield
The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

Author: Peniel E. Joseph

Narrator: Zeno Robinson

Unabridged: 11 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 03/31/2020

Synopsis

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 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.  

Reviews

Goodreads review by Raymond on April 26, 2020

My review is also published on Medium: [URL not allowed]-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......more

Goodreads review by Frances on 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 Mal......more

Goodreads review by Roger on April 17, 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 act......more

Goodreads review by Andre on October 02, 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 adversar......more

Goodreads review by Jania on 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......more

Quotes

"Enchanting."—New York Times

“Joseph, a prolific historian of twentieth-century African-American politics, an indefatigable public commentator, and arguably the leading chronicler of the Black Power movement, sheds light in The Sword and the Shield on the complex intellectual and strategic dynamics beneath the publicly fractious relationship between Martin and Malcolm.”—New York Review of Books

"Mr. Joseph, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, weaves [Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X's] stories fluidly and with vivid detail, helping to strip away the high gloss of mythology."—Wall Street Journal

"It is a fascinating story, full of subtle twists and turns."—Washington Post

“A brilliant revisionist study of the lives of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Effectively challenging the conventional dichotomy between the two men, it shows, instead, how their paths became increasingly convergent, coming to represent ‘overlapping and intersecting strains of revolutionary black activism.’”—The Guardian

"In this brilliantly braided biography, Peniel E. Joseph tells the story of each man’s identity and how their ideas shaped America, making clear that we can never fully understand one without the other."—TIME

“In the year of Black Lives Matter, this comparative biography of two of the great figures in the struggle for racial equality in the US stands out.”—Financial Times

"Joseph's fresh and perceptive dual biography may rekindle political unity in a time of increasingly granular identity politics, sensationalism, and fear."—Booklist

"As the author delineates the philosophies and tactics of each man, he compares and contrasts them on nearly every page, making the various narrative strands cohere nicely. An authoritative dual biography from a leading scholar of African American history."—Kirkus

"The Sword and the Shield is a landmark. It is what happens when one America's greatest historians of African America shines the same light on two of African America's greatest historical figures. Peniel Joseph deploys his supreme talents as a biographer and movement historian to interweave the world-shattering lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X."—Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist

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