Malcolm X Books in Order
Malcolm X has written 11 books, published between 1964 and 2012. The first book is The Ballot or the Bullet (1964) and the newest is Malcolm X Speeches (2012). Publication order is the reading order below. 9 of the 11 books listed here are in the Malcolm X Speeches series, which has its own page: Malcolm X Speeches books in order.
- Books
- 11
- Published
- 1964–2012
- Pages on record
- 1,722 in 10 of 11 books
- Reading time
- 29–43 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 1,722 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 10 of 11 titles with a page count on record.
Malcolm X is the name on 11 catalogued books published between 1964 and 2012, and the subject headings date Malcolm X to 1925-1965. The Ballot or the Bullet (1964) is the earliest title, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements date from 1965. Later titles include By Any Means Necessary (1970), Malcolm X: The Last Speeches (1989) and Malcolm X: Speeches at Harvard (1991). Subject headings cover African Americans, civil rights, Black Muslims and race relations.
How many Malcolm X books are there?
Malcolm X has 11 books, released between 1964 and 2012. 9 of them belong to the Malcolm X Speeches series.
Malcolm X Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 11 Malcolm X books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119641081/4
- 2The Autobiography of Malcolm X1965 · 504 pages · confirmed 1/419655041/4
- 3Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and StatementsMalcolm X Speeches #21965 · 226 pages · confirmed 1/419652261/4
- 4Malcolm X: Speaks Out1965 · 96 pages · confirmed 1/41965961/4
- 51967931/4
- 619701911/4
- 7The End of White World Supremacy: Four Speeches By Malcolm XMalcolm X Speeches #51971 · 148 pages · confirmed 1/419711481/4
- 81989131/4
- 919901521/4
- 1019911911/4
- 112012–1/4
Malcolm X series in order
The series linked below has its own reading-order page.
Malcolm X books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Standalone books
2 books2 Malcolm X titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Malcolm X books in order?
You only need to read Malcolm X books in order within the Malcolm X Speeches series, which holds 9 of the 11 Malcolm X books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Malcolm X
Start with The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), the first Malcolm X Speeches book. It is also the earliest catalogued title.
What is the newest Malcolm X book?
Malcolm X Speeches (2012) is the newest Malcolm X book released so far.
Is there a new Malcolm X book coming?
No next Malcolm X book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Malcolm X at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Malcolm X title on record dates from 2012, 14 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Malcolm X books have appeared about one every 5 years on average.
- Length
- 1,722 pages across the 10 of 11 books with a recorded length, a median of 150 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Malcolm X books, 5 of 11, were published in the 1960s.
What the Malcolm X books are about
9 of the 11 Malcolm X books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: african americans is tagged on 9 of 9. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- African Americans 9 of 9 books
- Civil rights 7 of 9 books
- Black Muslims 6 of 9 books
- Race relations 6 of 9 books
- African americans, civil rights 4 of 9 books
- X, malcolm , 1925-1965 4 of 9 books
- Afro-Americans 2 of 9 books
- Afronorteamericanos 2 of 9 books
- Blacks 2 of 9 books
- Bp223.z8 l58 1989 2 of 9 books
- History 2 of 9 books