Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Huey P. Newton

Sep 2009 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

The searing, visionary memoir of founding Black Panther Huey P. Newton, in a dazzling graphic package

Tracing the birth of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is as much a manifesto as a portrait of the inner circle of America's Black Panther Party. From Newton's impoverished childhood on the streets of Oakland to his adolescence and struggles with the system, from his role in the Black Panthers to his solitary confinement in the Alameda County Jail, Revolutionary Suicide is unrepentant and thought-provoking in its portrayal of inspired radicalism.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Ratings and reviews

Poor Huey here went through hell to improve the lives of his community. The word he used to describe this sacrifice is "Revolutionary Suicide." There was practically no chance to see the end of the revolution but through sacrifices the revolution will only grow. With every police murder the revolution would only strengthen the love the black community has for each other. His life story almost matches another revolutionary I read about. Her name was Assata and her up bringing was filled with compassion which gave her a good loving start to wonder about the world she lives in. While her life wasn't as dark as our hero Huey here they have similarities and those similarities made them sacrifice themselves for a better future for their beloved community. Police brutality still haunts their communities and the only way to end such horror is by wonder and struggle. Huey began his journey of wonder through Socrates. He has too many situations of deprivation that lead him to enlightenment.

Unbelievable! I am stunned at how: intelligently written, startlingly truthful, and poetically defined the writer Huey P. Newton.... who started out ILLITERATE till he was in his final year of high school... where he self taught himself to read! Is Newton and were the Panthers an armed street-gang? Were they a delusional bunch with unbelievable goals lead by a cultist? This book is the most honest portrait of the goal of the Panther party, honestly showing the human side of its definitive leader. Newtons honest perspective shows his flaws, his regrets and ultimately his evolution as a kid breaking into cars to an unspoken international Ambassador for freedom against oppression. Though they say "...every story has three sides, your side, my side and the truth..." this book is a portrait of an entire communities (which is mirrored in every culture across the globe countless times) fight against injustice. Though the book is an autobiography, it reads like a movie. Fast paced - gritty and with intense moments that the reader can "see" with his minds eye. Huey P. Newton has gained my respect for his courage and his overall fighting spirit. Revolutionary Suicide reads like a modern-day "Rocky" movie! MUST read for anyone of any color... its DEFINATELY NOT A "BLACK" BOOK! 10 Stars if I could give it!

I first read this book when it first came out in 1972. It helped to shape me as a man and was responsible for my involvement in the civil and human rights movement. To date I've read it several times.

About the author

Born the son of a Baptist minister in 1942 in Monroe, Louisiana, Huey P. Newton moved to Oakland, California, with his family at the age of three. Although functionally illiterate upon graduating from high school, he taught himself to read by studying Plato’s Republic. Newton enrolled at Oakland City College, where he campaigned successfully to have black history included in the curriculum. While at the college, he became familiar with the writings of Marx, Lenin, Frantz Fanon, and Chairman Mao. In 1966, with Bobby Seale, Newton co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, an organization in which Newton served as minister of defense. Though perhaps best known for their community street patrols, which openly displayed loaded firearms, the Black Panthers also sponsored breakfast programs for poor children and provided shoes and health care for the needy in the black community. Convicted in 1968 of manslaughter in the shooting death of Oakland police officer John Frey in 1968, Newton spent more than a year and a half in prison before his conviction was reversed. After a series of mistrials, the case against Newton was voluntarily dismissed. After reaching its high-water mark in 1970, when it claimed several thousand members, the Black Panther Party steadily declined, undermined in part by the efforts of the FBI. Accused of another murder in 1974, Newton jumped bail and spent the next three years in Cuba, after which he returned to the United States to stand trial and was acquitted of the charge. Newton earned a doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1980. He was shot to death by a gang member in 1989.