Ghosts in Our Blood: With Malcolm X in Africa, England, and the Caribbean

From Library Journal

Carew, an activist, scholar, and journalist, met Malcolm X during his last trip abroad only a few weeks before he was killed in 1965. It made such an impression on Carew that he felt compelled to search out Malcolm's family and friends in order to flesh out the family history. He interviewed Wilfred (Malcolm's older brother) and a Grenadian friend of Malcolm's mother named Tanta Bess. Comparing his family's experiences with that of Malcolm X, he gives the most complete picture yet of Malcolm's mother. Carew also offers a tantalizing glimpse of Malcolm X's transforming himself into El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, a man less blinded by his own racial prejudices yet as committed to the betterment of his race as ever. Just before his death, Malcolm X became convinced that a U.S. agency was involved with those trying to kill him, and Carew here reveals the evidence Malcolm X gave him to support these beliefs. The mystery of Malcolm's death remains unresolved, and we are once again filled with regret that he was cut down before he could fulfill the promise of his later days. While this book will not replace The Autobiography of Malcolm X (LJ 1/1/66), it is an important supplement. All libraries that own the autobiography should also purchase this one.
Anita L. Cole, Miami-Dade P.L. System, Fla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Almost thirty years after Malcolm X's assassination, his autobiography continues to sell more than 150,000 copies a year, and a spate of books, articles, and films in the 1990s have generated a groundswell of interest in the man who redefined America through his analysis of racism and his activism in the service of Black liberation worldwide. But, in the process, as Jan Carew observes in Ghosts in Our Blood, the significance of Malcolm's legacy has often eluded us.
Combining the lyricism of the poet with the breadth of the scholar, Carew, whose conversations with Malcolm in Britain influenced the revolutionary's thinking toward the end of his life, captures Malcolm the intellectual in pursuit of a new vision of race and a global political movement uniting progressive Blacks and whites. For the first time, readers will gain an intimate knowledge of Malcolm's breakthrough to an internationalist vision following his historic trip to Mecca, his travels throughout Africa, and his life among the Black expatriate community in London. Central also to the intricate discussions that transpire between Malcolm and Carew is their common Caribbean heritage, which Carew unfolds in the first full-fledged treatment of the history of Malcolm's Grenadian and Garveyite mother.

About the Author

Jan Carew is the director of the Center for the Comparative Study of the Humanities at Lincoln University.