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166 reviews for:
Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party
Joshua Bloom
4.48 AVERAGE
166 reviews for:
Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party
Joshua Bloom
4.48 AVERAGE
I read this book as part of the San Francisco Library's "One City One Book" program. My knowledge of the Black Panther Party ("BPP") was limited and mostly, before reading this book, wrong. The book portrays the Party as true revolutionary party intent on changing the social and political order of the United States in the late 1960s/early 1970s. It was not a "terrorist" organization as we currently think of them, but there were insurrectionary actions that were violent. But that was true of many movements at that time - the country was torn, MLK and RFK were killed, the war in Vietnam and the attendant draft was dragging on and J. Edgar Hoover ran a vindictive FBI. It was not a great period in our history.
As the BPP grew in popularity and impact it split - with one facation advocating violence and insurrection and another faction opting for a more social democratic approach - continuing the free breakfast program, running health clinics and schools and making forays into mainstream politics.
Through it all the BPP was reacting to situations that are not much different than they are today and the Black Lives Matter movement seems a logical extension in fighting persistent racism and police brutality. One of the many things this book proves is the adage that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The book was objective and relied on facts and sources rather than emotions. That of course can be less compelling at times and made the book seem more academic at times. I feel that was worth it as I was able to gain a better understanding of the BPP without a lot of emotion. But of course, it can make for dry reading at times.
Kudos for the SF Library for picking such a book - it's an important part of Bay Area and US history and this helps give it the attention it deserves.
As the BPP grew in popularity and impact it split - with one facation advocating violence and insurrection and another faction opting for a more social democratic approach - continuing the free breakfast program, running health clinics and schools and making forays into mainstream politics.
Through it all the BPP was reacting to situations that are not much different than they are today and the Black Lives Matter movement seems a logical extension in fighting persistent racism and police brutality. One of the many things this book proves is the adage that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The book was objective and relied on facts and sources rather than emotions. That of course can be less compelling at times and made the book seem more academic at times. I feel that was worth it as I was able to gain a better understanding of the BPP without a lot of emotion. But of course, it can make for dry reading at times.
Kudos for the SF Library for picking such a book - it's an important part of Bay Area and US history and this helps give it the attention it deserves.
Wow!
I’ve been looking to read more nonfiction and I decided to start with this massive tome that covers the entire history of the Black Panther Party. And it is extremely detailed and comprehensive.
The sheer amount of information does make it a bit dull at times (I may have had to rewind the audiobook more than once). It also does get somewhat confusing, especially due to the time-jumping.
But overall I can’t give this anything other than 5 stars because it’s such an all-encompassing and informative look at the Panthers. It’s absolutely essential to anyone researching the Party, whether for an essay or just out of interest.
5 out of 5 stars
I’ve been looking to read more nonfiction and I decided to start with this massive tome that covers the entire history of the Black Panther Party. And it is extremely detailed and comprehensive.
The sheer amount of information does make it a bit dull at times (I may have had to rewind the audiobook more than once). It also does get somewhat confusing, especially due to the time-jumping.
But overall I can’t give this anything other than 5 stars because it’s such an all-encompassing and informative look at the Panthers. It’s absolutely essential to anyone researching the Party, whether for an essay or just out of interest.
5 out of 5 stars
Black Against Empire retells much of the history of the Black Panther Party's rise, life, and demise and does with great detail and research. I learned a lot about the internal mechanics and dynamics of the party that I didn't know before but found the book itself dense and disjointed. My brain operates very linearly, so the authors' organization around themes rather than by a timeline made the flow hard to follow and to fully grasp how each challenge or success provided context for the development of the organization that followed. I also wish there had been a stronger gender lens, both in stronger critique / examination of the Party's gender dynamics, and also more about the women of the Party outside of their relationships to and support of men. What was abundantly clear, however, was the authors' retelling of how white fragility, toxic masculinity, and state-sponsored violence brought about the Party's downfall, both internally and externally. Although not an isolated incident, it can teach valuable lessons about the ways that white people and non-Black POC need to show up for racial justice and decolonization work (ie not just when their goals are part of the conversation) and the extent to which social movements are quelled by a strong mainstream belief that the existing legal and political systems will bring about liberation for all. Although Black Against Empire wasn't one of my recent favorites, it still presented important information for me to learn history and deepen my analysis around movement building.
dark
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Follows the arc of Panther growth, repression, and fracturing focusing on the political and tactical approaches they developed and revised as they grew from local opposition to police brutality to a national revolutionary organization. Emphasizes that their growth, despite their provocative revolutionary stance, relied on the broad support of moderate allies in the post civil rights and anti-war and anti-colonial left, and that it was as much the partial state resolution of these shared motives as the FBI's repression that ultimately ended the Panther's power.
The stories of police/state injustice documented throughout that motivated radical action seem so recognizable today.
The stories of police/state injustice documented throughout that motivated radical action seem so recognizable today.
An impressive meticulous examination of not only the rise and fall of the Panthers, but also the shifts the party went through during its short life. Oddly repetitive at times, but nevertheless a very important, eye-opening read -- utterly fascinating and very gratifying in the detail and ambition of its reporting and analysis.