From hustling, drug addiction and armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned to the puritanical fervour of the Black Muslims. He became identified in the white press as a teacher of race hatred. This autobiography reveals his integrity and the fierce idealism which led him to reject both liberal hypocrisies and black racialism.

Tracing his ancestry through six generations - slaves and freedmen, farmers and blacksmiths, lawyers and architects - back to Africa, Alex Haley discovered a youth, Kunta Kinte. It was this young man, who had been torn from his homeland and in torment and anguish brought to the slave markets of the new world, who held the key to Haley's past.

Created and edited by Justin Kestler and Ben Florman, SparkNotes Literature Guides provide analysis of (currently) 175 classic works of English and foreign language literature - novels, biographies, plays and poetry - that most commonly appear on examination syllabuses. These books provide the insights that today's students need to know.