A major biography of Malcolm X, under preparation for 10 years by Columbia University scholar and author Manning Marable, was bought for Viking Penguin by Wendy Wolf. Until now, Malcolm's so-called Autobiography, written with Alex Haley, a longtime bestseller, has been the chief source on the slain African-American leader's life, but Marable's researches, including his access to the Shabazz family, have uncovered a great deal more than ever appeared there: about the tensions and divisions in Malcolm's circle, about FBI infiltration of that circle and the Nation of Islam, about the agendas of New York police around his assassination, even a couple of chapters that were omitted from the book. The book's called Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, and Wolf bought world rights, including U.K., translation and serial, from agent Elyse Cheney, one of her first solo deals after leaving Sanford Greenburger; Wolf plans to publish in 2009.