By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X - Softcover

Spike Lee's first film She's Gotta Have It established his name. School Daze, Do The Right Thing and Mo' Better Blues were all preparation for his long-awaited film about the life and assasination of Malcolm X. Long before its release Malcolm X has been at the centre of a storm of controversy. In this book Lee explains why, in his account of and explanation of the life and death of Malcolm X and the politics of making a big-budget film abut a black leader in white Hollywood. 'We have formed an organisation...to fight whoever gets in our way, to bring about the complete independence of people of African descent here in the Western hemisphere, and first here in the United States, and bring about the freedom of these people by any means necessary.'

Spike Lee has written and directed five films before Malcolm X. She's Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues and Jungle Fever have all been critically acclaimed and commercially successful. A number of these films have companion books written by Spike Lee (and Lisa Jones). Ralph Wiley is the author of two previous boks, Why Black People Tend to Shout and Serenity: A Boxing Memoir.