SOURCE: "Monument to an Enormous Ego," in The New Leader, Vol. LV, No. 3, February 7, 1972, pp. 20-1.

In the following review, Oshinsky laments Powell's lack of analysis and introspection in Adam by Adam.

How could it possibly miss? The autobiography of America's most visceral black leader—the man who exhorted others to "tell it like it is." With his health failing and his public career now behind him, Adam Powell would finally let us know how one man could, with such instinctive virtuosity, play the diverse (and often conflicting) roles of super playboy, Baptist minister, political huckster, progressive reformer, Harlem aristocrat, and militant "street nigger."

Unfortunately, Adam does not "let it all hang out"; [Adam by Adam: The Autobiography of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.] is a dud, an evasive, well-packaged ball of fluff reminiscent of the traditional campaign biographies that fill the bookstores every four years. At first glance...