Alex Haley is a writer who approaches with caution a man [Malcolm X] many believe to be dangerous and sinister, who always maintains an objective distance, but nevertheless grows attached to his subject and takes extra pains to make the narrative glow.
Had Alex Haley been a member of the Nation of Islam, and this had been some sort of official biography (though Malcolm, of course, was severed from the group so its writing would need to have taken place earlier) I doubt there would be the same friction, the nervous interaction between Malcolm and the man taking notes, that we have here.
…
