and addictive use of drugs. In addition, his early learning focused on violence as the solution to all problems, minor and major, providing him with little information about alternative models. Having rejected Christianity as a model (and with what ambivalence he must have viewed that religion, given his father's example of preaching without practicing much of its virtues), Malcolm was left relatively uncentered and purposeless.
In some ways, the Black Muslim movement seems to represent some variant of today's common 12 step program for Malcolm, with the added advantage of allowing him to have an opportunity to utilize his anger in working for black people and against white Americans.
It is interesting to look at the period immediately proceeding Malcolm's involvement with the Nation of Islam. Bruce Perry (1991) noted that Malcolm's early prison life was not particularly distinctive. Malcolm was neither a notably violent, nor rebelious criminal. He did stand out, however, by virtue of his interest in reading an
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