A Marked Man

"Malcolm X once said that he would 'never get old,' referring to how his controversial views on race made him a marked man. The 39-year-old civil rights leader was proven right on February 21, 1965, when he was murdered while giving a speech in New York City. Of the three men convicted in the killing, only Talmadge Hayer ever admitted guilt. But who helped Hayer carry out the crime? Who ordered the job? And what events led to Malcolm X becoming such a target? The focus here is on the cloudy details of the assassination. Doeden successfully distinguishes between fact and conjecture, but the book is so brief that the whole examination feels somewhat stuck at the surface level. The striking design will certainly capture readers' attention—a shattered glass bullet hole motif symbolizes both the violent struggle of Malcolm X's life and the way in which he met his bloody end. Unfortunately, a spread placed smack dab in the middle of a section describing the shooting more or less destroys the flow, and at the worst possible time. Short biographies of many of the principals are appended. A flawed look at the death of a flawed, yet brilliant man." —School Library Journal