A review by adforperu
Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton

5.0

The memoir of Black Panthers founder Huey P Newton. Newton writes in such a matter-of-fact way; he's not trying to win the reader over, he mostly doesn't play to his ego, he doesn't shy away from the negative aspects of this personality and history (or he simply doesn't recognise them). A large portion of the book follows his upbringing and what it meant to be a black person in America at that time. He sets up the foundations of the Black Panther party, the history of which I knew very little of. There's no lengthy diatribes throughout the book, Newton was a very clever and measured man who could leave his emotions at the door for the good of the party. There are many flaws to his character, and perhaps his stubbornness and tunnel vision helped the demise of the party more than he'd care to admit, but his ideology and the party's 10 point program of a better society is not as radical as some may lead one to believe. His writing of his trial is especially enthralling and given my lack of prior knowledge of the man, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Black Panthers or purely just as the story and a complex and nuanced human being.