This book offers a look inside the rise and fall of Huey Newton and
the Black Panther Party in Oakland from the 60's to the 80's. Nelson
has spoken to many of the participants and assembled what appears to be
a well-balanced overview of the promise and problems of the Party.
His essential argument is that the Party began as a criminal enterprise
with revolutionary trappings and was eventually consumed by it's own criminality.
The book was apparently somewhat controversial because this, of course,
contradicts the standard view that the Panthers began as a worthy endeavor
but was tragically destroyed by increasing criminal activity and mismanagement
and illegal government meddling.
Despite some awkward prose, this is an excellent look at the turn from
non-violence to violence in the Black Community in the mid-60's.
(Reviewed:01-Oct-98)
Grade: (B)
Websites:
Book-related and General Links:
-BOOKNOTES
: Author: Hugh Pearson Title: The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton
and the Price of Black Power in America Air date: August 21, 1994
(C-SPAN)
-EXCERPT
: Chapter 6 of Under the Knife : How a Wealthy Negro Surgeon Wielded
Power in the Jim Crow South By Hugh Pearson
-ESSAY
: Rap Brown: Innocent, or a great actor? (HUGH PEARSON, The Washington
Post)
-ESSAY
: Not Just the Color of Our Skin : It's time for blacks to acknowledge
that their experience of oppression does not set them apart from the human
race, argues writer (Hugh Pearson, Salon)
-ESSAY
: My Love/Hate Relationship With America's Jews (Hugh Pearson , Culture
Front)
-ESSAY
: The best way to say, 'Never again!' (HUGH PEARSON , Newsday
-INTERVIEW
: Law Matters : Randall Kennedy reminds us that criminal justice isn't
always black-and-white (Interview by Hugh Pearson, Mother Jones)
-DISCUSSION
: Battle of the Burnouts : David Horowitz Dukes It Out With His Old
Sixties Comrades on the Sixties-L Usenet Discussion Group (Front Page)
-ESSAY
: Panthers
-REVIEW
: of The Shadow of the Panther Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power
in America By Hugh Pearson (CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT, NY Times)
-REVIEW
: of THE SHADOW OF THE PANTHER Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power
in America. By Hugh Pearson (Bob Blauner, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of Under the Knife How a Wealthy Negro Surgeon Wielded Power in the
Jim Crow South. By Hugh Pearson (Jason Berry, NY Times Book Reviews)
-REVIEW
: of Under the Knife (Abraham Verghese, Chicago Tribune)
-REVIEW
: of Under the Knife (Dennis A. Williams, Emerge)
BLACK PANTHERS :
-ENCYCLOPAEDIA
BRITANNICA : Black Panther Party
-ARCHIVES
: "Huey Newton" (Salon)
-ESSAY
: Who killed Betty Van Patter? (David Horowitz, Salon)
-ESSAY
: "progressive" education : LEFTISTS, DUCKING THE HARSH TRUTHS OF HISTORY
AND THEIR OWN MISTAKES, KEEP LIONIZING THUGS LIKE THE BLACK PANTHERS (David
Horowitz, Salon)
-PROFILE
: David Horowitz's Long March (SCOTT SHERMAN, The Nation)
-ESSAY
: TRB FROM WASHINGTON: GERONIMO! (Michael Kelly, New Republic)
-ESSAY
: Black Power City, White Power Suburb: Rhetoric and Reality in Oakland
and the East Bay (Robert O. Self)
-ESSAY
: BLACK PANTHERSí LEGACY OF VIOLENCE HAUNTS US STILL (Cynthia Tucker)
-ESSAY
: Public enemies? : Forget about allegations of historical inaccuracy
and 'glorifying black violence', the film Panther is an exciting tribute
to an organisation that inspired a generation. Talat Ahmed explains, and
recommends the books that best provide the background to the film
(Socialist Review)
-ESSAY
: On the Prowl with Bobby Seale (MaryHarris BrianGarvey)
If you liked Shadow of the Panther, try :
Branch, Taylor
-Parting
the Waters: America in the King Years. 1954-63
Cleaver, Eldridge
-Soul
on Ice
Goodman, James
-Stories
of Scottsboro
Haygood, Wil
-King
of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Jackson, George
-Soledad
Brother : The Prison Letters of George Jackson
X, Malcolm & Alex Haley
-The
Autobiography of Malcolm X
Washington, Booker T.
-Up
from Slavery
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