faif-2.0

Epilogue from Sam Williams:
Crushing Loneliness
[RMS: Because this chapter is so personally from Sam Williams, I have
indicated all changes to the text with square brackets or ellipses, and
I have made such changes only to clear up technical or legal points,
and to remove passages that I found to be hostile and devoid of information.
I have also added notes labeled ‘RMS:’ to respond to certain
points. Williams has also changed the text of this chapter; changes
made by Williams are not explicitly indicated.]
Writing the biography of a living person is a bit like producing a
play. The drama in front of the curtain often pales in comparison to
the drama backstage.
In The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley gives readers a
rare glimpse of that backstage drama. Stepping out of the ghostwriter
role, Haley delivers the book’s epilogue in his own voice. The epilogue
explains how a freelance reporter originally dismissed as a “tool” and
“spy” by the Nation of Islam spokesperson managed to work through
personal and political barriers to get Malcolm X’s life story on paper.
While I hesitate to compare this book with The Autobiography of
Malcolm X, I do owe a debt of gratitude to Haley for his candid epilogue.
Over the last 12 months, it has served as a sort of instruction
manual on how to deal with a biographical subject who has built an
entire career on being disagreeable. [RMS: I have built my career
on saying no to things others accept without much question, but if
I sometimes seem or am disagreeable, it is not through specific intention.]
From the outset, I envisioned closing this biography with
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