In his book, "The Sword and The Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.", Peniel E. Joseph, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), challenges the stereotypes we have grown up with about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.  

Martin Luther King Jr. is often stereotyped as a peaceful, nonviolent civil rights leader who advocated for integration and equality through love and passive resistance. Malcolm X is commonly stereotyped as the militant civil rights activist who promoted separatism and self-defense in the struggle for racial equality and advocated for black pride and empowerment. Malcolm X often carries a perception in collective memory as a more radical or confrontational figure, and maybe even dangerous.

Oversimplified portrayals of these historical figures can obscure their true selves. By comparing the lives of King and Malcolm X in a dual biography that covers their lifetimes, focusing on their involvement in the Civil Rights movement, Johnson demonstrates how these two individuals, as well as those who were involved in their movements, aimed to achieve a common objective: securing fairness, justice, dignity and respect for an oppressed community. Johnson's book offers a fresh perspective on the Civil Rights movement.

I highly recommend this book to those looking to enhance their understanding of the Black American experience.