Peniel Joseph, LBJ School professor and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD), is the author of the critically acclaimed book The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. On Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, Dr. Joseph joined Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, president and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University, for a special MLK Day Program on his book. Nearly 1,000 people across the country participated to honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
Named a TIME 100 must-read book of 2020, one of Financial Times's Best Books of 2020: Politics, a TLS Book of the Year, among the PEN America Awards Finalists, and among Goodreads most popular African American biographies of 2020, this dual biography of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King upends longstanding preconceptions to transform our understanding of the 20th century's most iconic leaders.
"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
Book Accolades:
- TIME 100 Must Read Books of 2020
- Financial Times's Best Books of 2020: Politics
- A TLS Book of the Year
- PEN America Awards Longlists
- Goodreads Most Popular African American Biographies of 2020
- PEN America Literary Awards Finalists
- Black History Month: Ibram X. Kendi's Recommended Reads
Book Reviews:
- Martin, Malcolm and the Fight for Equality (New York Times, March 31, 2020); Excerpt (April 6, 2020)
- Civil rights icons who antagonized, and influenced, each other (Washington Post, May 8, 2020)
- 'The Sword and the Shield' Review: Embodiments of the Struggle (Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2020)
- The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. (New York Journal of Books, March 31, 2020)
- Review: MLK, X, and BLM—'The Sword and the Shield,' by Peniel Joseph (third coast review, Sept. 22, 2020)