2 Books in the ““Literary Hit Jobs”” Category (collage)

“Literary Hit Jobs”: Refers, primarily, to literary nonfiction books that were critically acclaimed and celebrated by the white community but are considered hatch jobs by the those in the Black community most knowledgeable about the subject. The most notable books in this category include Hugh Pearson’s The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America and Manning Marable’s Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention. This does not mean these books do not contain some truths. However, on the whole they present a distortion of the truth and falsehoods, often by citing questionable sources.

The reaction to Marable’s book was so strong, Black Classic Press published a response to address the deficiencies in Marable’s work; A Lie of Reinvention: Correcting Manning Marable’s Malcolm X by Jared Ball and Todd Steven Burroughs. Needless to say, the reaction to Marable’s work did not get nearly as much attention as Marable’s, but it is the mission of AALBC to ensure people are aware of these problems.