All it took was one brief glance and the book was copped.  The cover featured two of the most important figures in African American history with one glancing over the other’s shoulder.  The image was familiar and the fact that it was on the cover of a book made it even better, and even more urgent to pick up.  The figures on the front of the book were Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.

There was no need to read any reviews beforehand, search for feedback, or do a background check on the authors.  In truth, there was no time to do any of those things.  For someone who ranks time as one of the 3 most important things a person can have, the time put into doing background checks would be better spent on simply buying the book.  Sure, there was the book that was currently in rotation at the time and another following before this one would be read, but that wasn’t the point.  Once it came into view, it was a wrap.  A call was made to one of my boys to ask if he heard about it and if he wanted to read it.  He saw it, went crazy, and said that he did.