This timely special edition,
published on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Black
Panther Party, features a new preface by the authors that places the
Party in a contemporary political landscape, especially as it relates
to Black Lives Matter and other struggles to fight police brutality
against black communities.
In
Oakland, California, in 1966, community college students Bobby Seale
and Huey Newton armed themselves, began patrolling the police, and
promised to prevent police brutality. Unlike the Civil Rights
Movement that called for full citizenship rights for blacks within
the United States, the Black Panther Party rejected the legitimacy of
the U.S. government and positioned itself as part of a global
struggle against American imperialism. In the face of intense
repression, the Party flourished, becoming the center of a
revolutionary movement with offices in sixty-eight U.S. cities and
powerful allies around the world.
Black
against Empire
is the first comprehensive overview and analysis of the history and
politics of the Black Panther Party. The authors analyze key
political questions, such as why so many young black people across
the country risked their lives for the revolution, why the Party grew
most rapidly during the height of repression, and why allies
abandoned the Party at its peak of influence. Bold, engrossing, and
richly detailed, this book cuts through the mythology and
obfuscation, revealing the political dynamics that drove the
explosive growth of this revolutionary movement and its disastrous
unraveling. Informed by twelve years of meticulous archival research,
as well as familiarity with most of the former Party leadership and
many rank-and-file members, this book is the definitive history of
one of the greatest challenges ever posed to American state power.