The age of multitasking needs better narrative history. It must be absolutely factual, immediately accessible, smart, and brilliantly fun. Enter Andrew Helfer, the award-winning graphic-novel editor behind Road to Perdition and The History of Violence , and welcome the launch of a unique line of graphic biographies. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these graphic biographies qualify as tomes. But if you're among the millions who haven't time for another doorstop of a biography, these books are for you. With the thoroughly researched and passionately drawn Malcolm X , Helfer and award-winning artist Randy DuBurke capture Malcolm Little's extraordinary transformation from a black youth beaten down by Jim Crow America into Malcolm X, the charismatic, controversial, and doomed national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Grade 10 Up–This brief novelization opens with a dramatic image of Malcolm posing with a rifle, highlighting the conflict that defined his short life. The story begins shortly before his death, and the sense of tension established by his looming assassination is maintained throughout the book. Those already familiar with Malcolm X's autobiography will find a compelling retelling of his life, and those new to the subject will be introduced to a whirlwind tour of mid-20th-century history through the eyes of an influential figure in the Civil Rights Movement. The defining moments of Malcolm's life are presented here in a condensed format–his upbringing in the Midwest, his rowdy teenage years as a hustler in Boston and Harlem, and his time in prison, leading ultimately to his public life as a member of the Nation of Islam and the Black Muslim movement in the 1960s. The black-and-white illustrations give shape to the figures depicted through the use of shadows and high-contrast silhouettes. Many of the drawings have the quality of photographs that have been repeatedly photocopied until fine details disappear, lending a documentary feel to the imagery.– Heidi Dolamore, San Mateo County Library, CA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This stirring graphic-novel-style biography weaves together black history with the personal story of the charismatic leader Malcolm X, whose confrontational approach to white racism was in marked contrast to Martin Luther King's policy of nonviolence. Helfer's text draws heavily on The Autobiography (1965), which Malcolm X wrote with Alex Haley, and DuBurke's realistic art, in black and white, with an average of six frames per page, visualizes the political struggle as well as the inner anger and turmoil. Far from reverential, the account includes chapters on Malcolm X's life as a hustler and his own disturbing racism. Close-up images, all set against a backdrop of the civil rights movement, capture crucial events in Malcolm's life: the teacher who tells him that as a black man he can never be a lawyer, his passionate reading in the prison library, and his conversion to Islam. The book, which is part of the Novel Graphics line, evokes powerful visual drama and brings the big issues close in a way that is sure to interest YAs for biography assignments as well as discussion of the issues. Hazel Rochman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Andrew Helfer has written everything from Batman to Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography . Malcolm X A Graphic Biography By Andrew J. Helfer Hill and Wang Copyright © 2006 Andrew J. Helfer All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8090-9504-9 Contents Title Page, CHAPTER ONE: HARD TIMES, CHAPTER TWO: RECKLESS YOUTH, CHAPTER THREE: EYES WIDE OPEN, CHAPTER FOUR: THE HUSTLER LIFE, CHAPTER FIVE: A DOWNWARD SPIRAL, CHAPTER SIX: ONE LAST HUSTLE, CHAPTER SEVEN: SATAN BEHIND BARS, CHAPTER EIGHT: FREE AT LAST, CHAPTER NINE: A NEW LEADER, CHAPTER TEN: SINS OF THE FATHER, CHAPTER ELEVEN: HAJJ, FURTHER READING, Copyright Page, CHAPTER 1 HARD TIMES MALCOLM'S FATHER, EARL LITTLE, WAS PART OF THIS MIGRATION. A CHILDHOOD SPENT IN GEORGIA, WHERE LYNCHINGS WERE FREQUENT, INSTILLED IN HIM A DESIRE FOR FREEDOM AND A CONVICTION THAT IT COULD NEVER BE WON IN WHITE AMERICA. AS HE HEADED NORTH, HE WORKED AS AN ITINERANT PREACHER ... ... FOR MARCUS GARVEY'S UNIVERSAL NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION (UNIA). GARVERY AND HIS FOLLOWERS PREACHED A POLITICAL GOSPEL OF BLACK SEPARATISM. THE UNIA BELIEVED THAT ONLY BY SHAKING OFF ALL WHITE INFLUENCES COULD AFRICAN AMERICANS TRULY BE FREE. DECADES LATER, MALCOLM X WOULD FIND A SIMILAR SEPARATIST CAUSE IN THE NATION OF ISLAM (NOI). MALCOLM'S MOTHER, LOUISE NORTON, WAS AS LIGHT-SKINNED AS EARL LITTLE WAS DARK LOUISE'S BIOLOGICAL FATHER WAS A WHITE MAN WHO HAD RAPED HER MOTHER. THE LITTLE FAMILY SETTLED IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA, WHERE EARL VISITED LOCAL BLACK CHURCHES TO PREACH GARVEY'S GOSPEL OF BLACK PRIDE AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY. EARL'S 'SUBVERSIVE' SPEECHES ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF THE OMAHA C