The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

These two iconic civil rights leaders of the 1950s and ‘60s met only one time, and even then it was for only a brief moment. Beginning with this encounter, in this superbly well-written book, Peniel Joseph illustrates how the lives and thinking and leadership of these two men intersected in very unlikely ways. With life stories as varied as could possibly be for two African-American men, these two complicated men, so very different, competed with and complemented each other in ways seldom recognized. Both men’s legacies were so indelibly and thoroughly marked by their tragic deaths that recovering the true person and his impact on America and indeed the world has become increasingly elusive. Joseph helps the reader, and history, re-evaluate each man in light of the other’s life and work, leading to renewed insights into their mutual impact.