The book addresses his ministry with Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam (1952–1963) and his emergence as the organization's national spokesman. This led to his arrest and subsequent eight- to ten-year prison sentence, of which he served six-and-a-half years (1946–1952). Little's young adulthood in Boston and New York City is covered, as well as his involvement in organized crime. Beginning with his mother's pregnancy, the book describes Malcolm's childhood first in Omaha, Nebraska and then in the area around Lansing and Mason, Michigan, the death of his father under questionable circumstances, and his mother's deteriorating mental health that resulted in her commitment to a psychiatric hospital. Published posthumously, The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an account of the life of Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little (1925–1965), who became a human rights activist. James Baldwin and Arnold Perl adapted the book as a film their screenplay provided the source material for Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X. In 1998, Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X as one of ten 'required reading' nonfiction books. In 1967, historian John William Ward wrote that it would become a classic American autobiography. When the Autobiography was published, The New York Times reviewer Eliot Fremont-Smith described it as a 'brilliant, painful, important book'. According to Manning Marable, 'Haley was particularly worried about what he viewed as Malcolm X's anti-Semitism' and he rewrote material to eliminate it. Rather than rewriting earlier chapters as a polemic against the Nation which Malcolm X had rejected, Haley persuaded him to favor a style of 'suspense and drama'. For example, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam during the period when he was working on the book with Haley. Haley influenced some of Malcolm X's literary choices. While Malcolm X and scholars contemporary to the book's publication regarded Haley as the book's ghostwriter, modern scholars tend to regard him as an essential collaborator who intentionally muted his authorial voice to create the effect of Malcolm X speaking directly to readers. He described their collaborative process and the events at the end of Malcolm X's life. After the leader was killed, Haley wrote the book's epilogue. The Autobiography is a spiritual conversion narrative that outlines Malcolm X's philosophy of black pride, black nationalism, and pan-Africanism. Haley coauthored the autobiography based on a series of in-depth interviews he conducted between 19.

It was released posthumously on October 29, 1965, nine months after his assassination. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an autobiography written by American minister Malcolm X, who collaborated with American journalist Alex Haley.

The auto biography of malcolm x