Black against empire

the history and politics of the Black Panther Party

by Joshua Bloom

No cover — Joshua Bloom: Black against empire (2013, University of California Press)

English language

Published June 21, 2013 by University of California Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-520-27185-2

(6 reviews)

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 …

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.

7 editions

NC reviewed Black against empire by Joshua Bloom

Review of 'Black against empire' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

You need to know this part of American history. Read this book.

loppear reviewed Black against empire by Joshua Bloom

Review of 'Black against empire' on Goodreads

4 stars

Follows the arc of Panther growth, repression, and fracturing focusing on the political and tactical approaches they developed and revised as they grew from local opposition to police brutality to a national revolutionary organization. Emphasizes that their growth, despite their provocative revolutionary stance, relied on the broad support of moderate allies in the post civil rights and anti-war and anti-colonial left, and that it was as much the partial state resolution of these shared motives as the FBI's repression that ultimately ended the Panther's power.

The stories of police/state injustice documented throughout that motivated radical action seem so recognizable today.

Joerg reviewed Black against empire by Joshua Bloom

Review of 'Black against empire' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Black Against Empire is the first comprehensive history of the political development of the short-lived yet hyperinfluentual Black Panthers has been released. The authors managed the incredible feat of cutting a path through the complex jungle of the Panthers' development, concentrating on the politics, the causes for their rise and decline. Sometimes I wished that some loose ends, especially biographical and technical issues, had been explained a bit more. But the chapters are build in a logical order to span the rise and fall of the Party, highlight their achievements and carefully weigh the good and the bad. Also, this book conclusively shows that the US under Nixon and Hoover, and California under Reagan have been guilty of the most barbaric acts of terror to subdue the anti-Imperialistic movements of the 60s.