Told to Alex Haley over the last two years of Malcolm's life and published months after his assassination, this is the most important political memoir in American history. The arc — from Detroit Red the hustler, to the Nation of Islam minister, to the man who breaks with Elijah Muhammad and goes to Mecca — is the rare American conversion narrative that earns its turn.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.