Prophet Of Rage: A Life Of Louis Farrakhan And His Nation

304 Pages·1996·19.13 MB·English

by  Arthur J. Magida

Foreword by Julian Bond
SA $25.00
CANADA $35.00
“Arthur Magida has a very strong commitment
to balance and fairness. Farrakhan is a contro¬
versial subject and a fascinating one. Readers
will undoubtedly be well-served by Magida’s
reporting of this very influential character.”
—Peter Jennings, ABC News
In this first-ever biography of Louis Farrakhan,
Arthur J. Magida presents an independent, objec¬
tive, and insightful portrait of the controversial
leader who has emerged as America's dominant—
and most problematic—figure on the African-
American scene.
Magida, a Jewish journalist whose coverage of
Farrakhan won the approbation of Farrakhan
himself as well as the head of the B'nai B'rith's
Anti-Defamation League, has had unprecedented
access to the leader of the Nation of Islam.
In Prophet of Rage, Magida penetrates the
empassioned rhetoric that surrounds this enigmatic
figure to reveal his personal story, tracing
Farrakhan's life from his birth as Eugene Walcott in
the Bronx, to his disciplined childhood in Boston's
Roxbury, to his training as a classical violinist in
youth, and his career later as a calypso singer.
We learn why Farrakhan turned against
Malcolm X and later orchestrated the reestablish¬
ment of the Nation of Islam under the original
creed of Elijah Muhammad. We see Farrakhan as
an ally of the 1984 presidential candidate the
Reverend Jesse Jackson, his unforgiving—and
unforgivable—anti-Semitic remarks, and his day of
triumph in October 1995 at the Million Man
March in Washington, D.C.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about—or a
visceral reaction to— Louis Farrakhan, but very few
(CONTINUED ON BACK FLAP)
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Prophet of Rage

A Life of Louis Farrakhan
and His Nation
ARTHUR J. MAGIDA
BasicBooks
A Division of HarperCollins/W?/fs/?ers
JP BR
BP223
- Z8
.F3846
1996
Copyright © 1996 by Arthur J. Magida.
Published by BasicBooks,
A Division of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For
information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd
Street, New York, NY 10022-5299.
FIRST EDITION
Designed by Elliott Beard
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Magida, Arthur J.
Prophet of rage : a life of Louis Farrakhan and his nation /
Arthur J. Magida. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-465-06436-1
1. Farrakhan, Louis. 2. Black Muslims—Biography.
3. Afro-Americans—Biography. I. Title.
BP223.Z8.F3846 1996
297'.87—dc20.
[B] 96-2767
96 97 98 99 00 ❖/RRD 10 987654321
For a nation that, in its heart, can still. . .
hold fast,
All together.. .
For ye were enemies
And Fie joined your hearts
In love, so that by His Grace,
Ye became brethren.
Koran 3:103