Review by Choice Review
Between 1973 and 1979, JoAnne Chesimard made news as a Black Panther revolutionary. To some, she was a wild-eyed, crazy black woman criminal; to others, such as the FBI and the state of New Jersey, she was a dangerous, subversive militant and, worse, a bank robber and the murderer of a state trooper. The federal government and New Jersey together managed, after a number of implausible charges, to bring Chesimard to trial ten times, obtaining conviction only once, and then on questionable evidence. Two years after her conviction, she escaped to Cuba where she resides. This autobiography, excellently introduced by Lennox Hinds (Rutgers University), is a sober, restrained, but forceful recollection of a life shaped early by American racism that caused Chesimard to view the world with suspicion and distrust. Her early adulthood coincided with the Civil Rights Movement; convinced by then that radical changes had to be made in US society, Chesimard believed only the Black Panthers would succeed. That association made her a target for prejudicial observation and harassment, leading to her arrest in 1973 and ultimate conviction. Assata Shakur, the name she adopted as a revolutionary, tells a straightforward story of her trials and tribulations. But her account also describes the transformation from what may be called an idealistic revolutionary to a pragmatic one. She writes that by 1979, ``I had changed in so many ways. I was no longer the wide-eyed, romantic young revolutionary who believed the revolution was just around the corner.'' A must book for those interested in personal perspectives of the ``revolutionaries'' of the 1960s. Public and academic libraries.-J.C. Walter, Smith College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Former Black Panther Assata Shakur is better known to most readers by what she calls her ``slave name,'' JoAnne Chesimard. Long wanted by the FBI on apparently trumped-up charges of kidnapping and bank robbery, Shakur was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. This impressionistic account of her life alternates between chapters tracing her upbringing in a middle-class black family and recording her treatment in prison during the course of successive trials. Shakur never does describe what happened the day the trooper was murdered, nor does she give any description of how she escaped from federal prison and made her way to Cuba, where, one gathers, she's something of a revolutionary hero. What makes this book fascinating is the author's blend of intelligence and savagery, lyricism and crude hostility. Unfortunately, the impact of Shakur's story is greatly weakened by the utter lack of objectivity with which she examines her past. Still, Shakur is an arresting writer-fluent, direct, colorful, and emotional-and she makes excellent use of colloquial speech. Enthralling, unreliable, and fervent, this autobiography does a superb job of capturing its author's personality and values. No index. PM. 973'.0496073024 Shakur, Assata / Afro-Americans-Biography / Black Panther Party-Biography / Black nationalism-U.S. / Racism-U.S. / U.S.-Race relations [CIP] 87-23772
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This black activist's memoir is like a freeze frame of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Though the polemical rhetoric is dated, the book is an otherwise compelling tale of the impact of white racism on a sensitive and powerful young black woman. Born Joanne Chesimard, she took an African name to confirm her commitment to black liberation, joined militant organizations, and was ultimately convicted of the murder of a New Jersey highway patrol officer in 1977. Her descriptions of life in prison and the vagaries of the court system are especially wrenching. Living now in Cuba as an escaped felon, she continues her utopian plea for revolution. Recommended for large libraries and specialists. Anthony O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Assata Shakur is JoAnne Chesimard, the Black Panther leader who escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1979 and within the past month has resurfaced in Cuba. Her brief autobiography is propagandistic and notable for its omissions, but there are passages of poignant, effective writing. There was a time during the 70's when law-enforcement officials considered Shakur the ""soul"" of the Black Panther movement, and prosecuted her accordingly: between 1973 and 1977 she was brought to trial three times on bank robbery and kidnapping charges, and each time acquitted. However, in 1977 she was convicted of the murder of a New Jersey state trooper and sentenced to life; two years later she broke out in a dramatically successful escape and apparently lived the underground life before finding a haven in Havana. No matter what your politics, this sounds like a pretty unusual life, but you wouldn't know it from Shakur's memoir. It is so marred by authorial suppressions about her adult life as a Black Panther--focusing only on her various trials, and not on what led up to them--that much of the narration seems to reside in a vacuum. There is much talk of ""pigs"" and ""Rokafeller"" and ""amerika,"" but little in the way of hard facts. And Shakur's current rosy view of Cuba as a worker's paradise is either naivetÉ or expediency. In direct contrast, however, are the early, evocative portions of the book focusing on Shakur's childhood in Queens and Wilmington, N.C. There are compelling scenes of her growing up in the 50's (raised in part by strict bourgeois grandparents), running away from home to work in seamy Greenwich Village bars, and finally becoming radicalized at Manhattan Community College during the mid-60's. These evocative passages make up only a small portion of Shakur's story, unfortunately; the rest is largely a tract in which next to nothing is revealed. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
