Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan professor of political values and ethics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written several previous books on African American history, including Stokely: A Life. He lives in Austin, Texas.
"The Sword and the Shield delivers both strong storytelling and
exemplary history, dismantling popular distortions of its subjects,
and arriving at a nuanced and profoundly revealing portrayal of
converging visions that informed, challenged, and sharpened each
other even as their proponents seemed publicly and irrevocably at
odds."--New York Journal of Books
"The Sword and the Shield is a landmark. It is what happens when
one America's greatest historians of African America shines the
same light on two of African America's greatest historical figures.
Peniel Joseph deploys his supreme talents as a biographer and
movement historian to interweave the world-shattering lives of
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X."--Ibram X. Kendi, author of
How to Be an Antiracist
"The Sword and The Shield is a masterwork of bold historical
revisionism that will change how we think of the dynamic
relationship between Harlem's Hero Malcolm X, and America's Apostle
Martin Luther King, Jr. By probing their distinctive styles of
social combat, and by examining the historical contexts of their
evolving, complex and often interrelated philosophies of race and
political transformation, Joseph shows how each man was bigger than
the sum of his competing symbolic parts. Joseph destroys the
one-dimensional views of their ideological conflicts, and roots
both figures in the cultural milieu and racial maelstrom that
marked the age they inherited and shaped. By showing how Malcolm
and Martin started as adversaries, then became rivals, and
eventually, on occasion, unwitting compatriots in global black
resistance to oppression, Joseph brilliantly illumines the defining
personalities at the heart of the black freedom struggle during the
height of its revolutionary expression in American
history."--Michael Eric Dyson, author of Jay-Z: Made in America
"Arguing against facile juxtapositions of the political
philosophies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Peniel Joseph
has written a powerful and persuasive re-examination of these
iconic figures, tracing the evolution of both men's activism. The
Sword and the Shield provides a nuanced analysis of these figures'
political positions in addition to unfolding the narratives of
their personal lives. Well-written and compelling, this important
new book brilliantly explores the commonalities between the
political goals of Malcolm and Martin."-- Henry Louis Gates Jr.,
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
"As the author delineates the philosophies and tactics of each man,
he compares and contrasts them on nearly every page, making the
various narrative strands cohere nicely. An authoritative dual
biography from a leading scholar of African American
history."--Kirkus
"Enchanting."--New York Times
"In this brilliant, timely, and eloquently written dual biography,
Peniel E. Joseph, a leading scholar of the Civil Rights Movement
and Black Power era, not only demonstrates his command over Malcolm
X's and Martin Luther King Jr.'s activism and thought, but also his
penetrating understanding of the black freedom struggle and the
times and events that inevitably shaped his subjects. A profound
and important book, The Sword and the Shield will shape how future
generations interpret Malcolm's and King's monumental contributions
to American culture, politics, and democracy."--Pero G. Dagbovie,
author of Reclaiming the Black Past: The Use and Misuse of African
American History in the Twenty-First Century
"It is a fascinating story, full of subtle twists and
turns."--Washington Post
"Joseph's fresh and perceptive dual biography may rekindle
political unity in a time of increasingly granular identity
politics, sensationalism, and fear."--Booklist
"Mr. Joseph, a history professor at the University of Texas at
Austin, weaves [Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X's] stories
fluidly and with vivid detail, helping to strip away the high gloss
of mythology."--Wall Street Journal
"Peniel Joseph has written the civil rights history for our time.
He explains how partisanship has distorted the legacy of a movement
that promoted the citizenship and dignity of all Americans. Joseph
recounts how the iconic civil rights leaders worked in tandem to
unleash the common potential of American democracy, and how we must
all do the same today. This is a deep book that will move readers
to action."--Jeremi Suri, author of The Impossible Presidency: The
Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office
"Peniel Joseph is an omnivore historian with a gift for
synthesizing fact and ideas into a vivid, accessible package. In
The Sword and the Shield, he has reconciled two dissonant icons in
a satisfying, intimate blend of narrative and insight."--Diane
McWhorter, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Carry Me Home:
Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights
Revolution
"Though other meaningful figures from the era get short shrift,
Joseph's laser focus delivers essential insights into the
characters of both men. This incisive work uncovers the subtleties
of a relationship too often cast in broad strokes."--Publishers
Weekly
"Joseph, a prolific historian of twentieth-century African-American
politics, an indefatigable public commentator, and arguably the
leading chronicler of the Black Power movement, sheds light in The
Sword and the Shield on the complex intellectual and strategic
dynamics beneath the publicly fractious relationship between Martin
and Malcolm."--New York Review of Books
"A brilliant revisionist study of the lives of Martin Luther King
and Malcolm X. Effectively challenging the conventional dichotomy
between the two men, it shows, instead, how their paths became
increasingly convergent, coming to represent 'overlapping and
intersecting strains of revolutionary black activism.'"--The
Guardian
"In the year of Black Lives Matter, this comparative biography of
two of the great figures in the struggle for racial equality in the
US stands out."--Financial Times
"In this brilliantly braided biography, Peniel E. Joseph tells the
story of each man's identity and how their ideas shaped America,
making clear that we can never fully understand one without the
other."--TIME
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