A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story

Amazon.com Price: $17.95 (as of 14/10/2019 23:04 PST- Details)

Categories: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Description

Elaine Brown assumed her role as the first and only female leader of the Black Panther Party with these words: “I have all of the guns and all of the money. I will resist challenge from without and from within. Am I right, Comrade?” It used to be August 1974. From a small Oakland-based cell, the Panthers had grown to turn into a revolutionary national organization, mobilizing black communities and white supporters across the country—but relentlessly targeted by the police and the FBI, and increasingly more riven by violence and strife within. How Brown came to a position of power over this paramilitary, male-dominated organization, and what she did with that power, is a riveting, unsparing account of self-discovery.
            Brown’s story begins with growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in Philadelphia and attending a predominantly white school, where she first sensed what it meant to be black, female, and poor in The us. She describes her political awakening all through the bohemian years of her adolescence, and her time as a foot soldier for the Panthers, who appeared to hold the promise of redemption. And she tells of her ascent into the upper echelons of Panther leadership: her tumultuous relationship with the charismatic Huey Newton, who would turn into her lover and her nemesis; her experience with the male power rituals that would sow the seeds of the party’s demise; and the scars that she both suffered and inflicted in that era’s paradigm-shifting clashes of sex and power. Stunning, lyrical, and acute, this is the indelible testimony of a black woman’s battle to define herself.

“A glowing achievement.” —Los Angeles Times
 
“Honest, funny, subjective, unsparing, and passionate. . . A Taste of Power weaves autobiography and political history into a story that fascinates and illuminates.” —The Washington Post
 
“A stunning picture of a black woman’s coming of age in The us. Put it at the shelf beside The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” —Kirkus Reviews

Related products

Home » Shop » Books » Subjects » Politics and Social Sciences » Social Sciences » Specific Demographics » African-American Studies » A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story

Recent Products