The Book Prize Index

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

Les Payne, Tamara Payne

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X is a biography of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne. The book was published on September 29, 2020 by Liveright in hardcover format while an audiobook, narrated by actor Dion Graham, was simultaneously released by Recorded Books. Among other honors, the book won the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

BiographyBiography · medium confidenceBiography81 signalsLlm Classifier: Biography -> BiographyOpen Library: African americans, biography -> BiographyOpen Library: African americans, biography -> Race & EthnicityBlack History & CultureAfrica & the African DiasporaCivil Rights & Racial Justice

Award History

2 wins · 7 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Pulitzer Prize in Biography or AutobiographyMajor2021WinnerSecondary source
National Book Award for NonfictionMajor2020WinnerSecondary source
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionMajor2021LonglistOfficial source
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for BiographyMajor2020FinalistSecondary source
National Book Critics Circle Award for BiographyMajor2020FinalistSecondary source
Mark Lynton History Prize2021FinalistSecondary source
Plutarch Award: Biography2021FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (7)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    • Malcolm X95%

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    35 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 62%.