THE ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE AN ENIGMATIC PERSONALITY.

Byline: Claude Lewis Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Title: ``Prophet of Rage: A Life of Louis Farrakhan and His Nation''

Author: Arthur J. Magida

Data: 264 pages, Basic Books; $25

Our rating: Three Stars

Arthur J. Magida's study of the life and times of Louis Farrakhan is consistently absorbing and surprisingly balanced, but it is more a regurgitation of the turbulent history of the Nation of Islam than a candid peek inside the head and heart of the Nation's enigmatic leader.

Part of the appeal of ``Prophet of Rage'' is the irony that a Jew, a member of the group that Farrakhan's followers regard as the greatest enemy of the Nation of Islam, is the first to offer a biography of this controversial figure who rose to prominence in American consciousness by assailing Jews and defining their role in religious history as ``violators of the covenant with God.''

The descriptions of the meetings between Magida and Farrakhan are fascinating, simply because, in theory, the two men are not supposed to like each other. However, despite their obvious religious differences, they treated each other, judging from the book, with surprising civility.

The public Farrakhan sits atop a black separatist religious sect brooding and offering a constant barrage of spirited language and the threat of violence that unsettles and puzzles millions of Americans, both black and white. Yet, in private, Magida finds that the 63-year-old classically trained violinist and former calypso singer from Brooklyn, Louis Eugene Walcott, comes through as a man who is often as charismatic and charming as he is caustic and discourteous.

This book arrives at the precise moment a Farrakhan biography is needed. Despite his constant exposure in the media, Farrakhan, the pre-eminent figure among what is left of the African-American civil-rights theocracy, has managed to remain largely elusive and unexamined. While Magida sheds light on Farrakhan the man, his subject nonetheless remains a shadowy figure whose lifestyle poses many more questions than the book is able to answer.

Farrakhan appears to me the boldest African-American personality on the racial scene today. His effusive nature makes him more interesting than even the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who gained power and dominance after the assassination in 1968 of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As ``Prophet of Rage'' makes clear, Farrakhan is both complex and simple, moving easily between a practiced cordiality and a strident scorn. It all goes to reveal a man who, through his use of language and flair, is far more intriguing than many other personalities of today. He is so wedded to controversy that the widescale contempt he engenders nearly seems to justify his paranoia. Indeed, the source of Farrakhan's power and legitimacy in the African-American community is his alienation from so many whites, and Jews in particular.

Farrakhan didn't gain his position of leadership based on the numbers who follow him, according to Magida. Nor is he wiser than his peers, the author finds. He gained prominence largely because he understands the fundamental principle that human nature, like nature, abhors a vacuum. He detected a weakness among the broad array of African-American leadership and simply rushed in to fill the void left by those who had either grown frustrated at trying to attain integration or who had all but abandoned the effort to create equality between blacks and whites.

Throughout the book, Magida gives Farrakhan a surprising amount of latitude. At their initial meeting, Magida, editorial director of Jewish Lights Publishing and formerly senior editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times, sought an apology from Farrakhan for the steady stream of invective Farrakhan has aimed at Jews. What Magida got instead was an explosive and vengeful attack that lasted nearly a quarter of an hour.

It is obvious that Magida succumbed to Farrakhan's magic and manipulation, for he treats his subject more respectfully than one might have expected as he traces Farrakhan's anti-Semitic rhetoric and longstanding feud with Jews. Magida points out that Farrakhan relies on black America's historic grievances toward whites to make his religious attacks palpable.

Magida understands that Farrakhan is a cunning man. Smooth and focused, Farrakhan was able to outfox Jesse Jackson by placing himself at the head of the line in planning and executing the highly successful Million Man March last year. Other African-American leaders began to support the march when it became obvious that it was going to succeed. More than 800,000 African-American males showed up in Washington for the march. The response to Farrakhan's clarion call stunned the traditional leadership and forced many of them who did not want to be identified with him or his Nation of Islam to participate or risk being left out in the cold.

I believe that few African-American leaders understood, until it was nearly too late, that Farrakhan had gained national prominence, largely on the back of their shortcomings. In other times, he would hardly have been noticed among a veritable army of traditional African-American leadership. During the glory days when Dr. King headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Roy Wilkins led the NAACP and Vernon Jordan presided over the Urban League, Farrakhan counted for little. He has been on the cutting edge of civil rights for more than 30 years, but despite his current status among the African-American intelligentsia, he still has not attained the silent or widespread loyalty that made the late Malcolm X such an enthralling and enduring figure in the racial politics of America.

The book comes alive as the author recalls many of Farrakhan's most incendiary words, including his bitter attacks on Malcolm X, which he is still laboring to overcome, and the death threat he directed at Washington Post editor Milton Coleman. Talk-show interviews served Farrakhan's purposes well as he easily won control from hosts like Arsenio Hall and even veteran interviewer Barbara Walters.

For the most part, Magida's research is credible as he explores the bitter controversies that affected Farrakhan's fluctuating relationship with Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad's son, Wallace, the man who once appeared to be the natural heir to Elijah Muhammad's hawkish throne. Farrakhan's re-establishment of the Nation of Islam under the original separatist creed of Elijah Muhammad makes for fascinating reading. The author reveals how Farakhan drifted into black nationalism and delves into what he considers to be the Nation of Islam's self-fabricated religion.

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Photo

Photo: New on the shelves: the first biography of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Associated Press