"It is difficult to think of two twentieth century books by one author that have had as much influence on American culture when they were published as Alex Haley's monumental bestsellers, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), and Roots (1976). They changed the way white and black America viewed each other and the country's history. This first biography of Haley follows him from his childhood in relative privilege in deeply segregated small town Tennessee...

Inspired by transcendentalism, Whitman's immortal collection includes some of the greatest poems of modern times, including his masterpiece, "Song of Myself." Shattering standard conventions, it stands as an unabashed celebration of body and nature. "The most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed."--Ralph Waldo Emerson. Walt Whitman was a poetic Visionary. He published the first edition of this monumental work in 1855...

Pretenders singer/songwriter Chrissie Hynde tells exactly where she came from and what her crooked, winding path to stardom entailed. Her All-American upbringing in Akron, Ohio, a child of postwar power and prosperity. Her soul's capture, along with tens of millions of her generation, by the gods of sixties rock who came through Cleveland -- Mitch Ryder, David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Paul Butterfield, and Iggy Pop among them. Her shocked witness in 1970...

Born Malcolm Little, his minister father was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. He became a gangster, and while in jail discovered the Nation of Islam writings of Elijah Muhammad. After getting out of jail, he preaches the teachings, but later on goes on a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca. There he converts to the original Islamic religion and becomes a Sunni Muslim. He changes his name to El-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz and stops his anti-white teachings, having...

This biography of the African American activist quotes extensively from Malcolm's autobiography. Best Books for Children, 6th ed. A clear, straightforward biography with black-and-white photos. Malcom X was born into a life of poverty and hardship. When he was just four years old, his family's house burned to the ground. Two years later his father died, and his mother found it difficult to care for her eight children. Left to fend for himself, Malcolm...