MALCOLM X

Dramatic book design and an analytical approach mark this biography of the so-called ``angriest black man in America.'' Brown characterizes Malcolm X's life as one of repeated radical transformations—from young social work case to glib street hustler to ascetic religious convert to increasingly articulate public figure—a man whose ideas also changed, and changed again, and were still in the process of changing at his death. The author places his subject in context, providing background histories of the Nation of Islam and the civil rights movement, and closes with savvy speculation about the man as an enduring symbol. Large, well- chosen b&w photos, plus a design that features display type on thick black bars, give the book a bold look. This isn't written with the passion of Walter Dean Myers's Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary (1993), but it is a thoughtful, well-documented new entry in a crowded field. (notes, bibliography, index) (Biography. 11-15)