Well, this one at least doesn’t include framing the S.A. of women as an act of political revolution. I did like this book, especially for its biographical components and Cleaver’s experience with the Black Panthers and how the police and government waged a racist war against the black ghettoes.
The first third of the book concerns his early life and his history with the panthers, frankly, I think this is the best part of the book. Of course, this is where his criminal history begins as well although the book quickly glances over his crimes though he does name them. The second third of the story, which comprises most of the book, concerns his fugitive status as he flees the U.S. for legal reasons and justified political concerns as he toured the world especially communist countries. This part of the book is interesting in that he has a political awakening realizing that not all “revolutionary” politics are good or even different from establishment politics. Then he suddenly breaks down and comes to God. Now, when it comes to religion, I’m an atheist, all religion is to me an archaic power structure, mythology, and collections of allegory & parable. However, I do see the importance of spirituality.
The last, and most brief part of the book, is his conversion to Christianity and his surrender to U.S. authorities due to some serious homesickness. His spiritual journey in the book is very quick and much less interesting than his political one according to this book. I am always interested in personal journeys even spiritual ones but here, the road to god was just so sudden and occurred wholly after a sudden emotional breakdown. His surrender to authorities was presented as driven by severe homesickness and exile-born depression as well as a mode of his seeking redemption. Overall, however, I did enjoy this book possibly more than its predecessor. There are passages here that are equally relevant today as they were when this book was written.
Passages like: “Ever since the Watts uprising of 1965, in which scores of black people had been killed, a rising tide had been growing against what had every appearance of the indiscriminate killing of citizens by the police. Everyone talked about it but no one was doing anything about it.” still have relevancy and power today for very obvious reasons.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, more than its forebear ([b:Soul on Ice|6377315|Soul on Ice|Eldridge Cleaver|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1238747225l/6377315._SY75_.jpg|1949545]), it was an interesting read. ( )

Self-serving at best. ( )