Huey P. Newton: The Radical Theorist

by Judson L. Jeffries

Huey P. Newton's powerful legacy to the Black Panther movement and the civil rights struggle has long been obscured. Conservatives harp on Newton's drug use and on the circumstances of his death in a crack-related shooting. Liberals romanticize his black revolutionary rhetoric and idealize his message. In Huey P. The Radical Theorist , Judson L. Jeffries considers the entire arc of Newton's political role and influence on civil rights history and African American thought. Jeffries argues that, contrary to popular belief, Newton was one of the most important political thinkers in the struggle for civil rights. Huey P. Newton's political career spanned two decades. Like many freedom fighters, he was a complex figure. His international reputation was forged as much from his passionate defense of black liberation as from his highly publicized confrontations with police. His courage to address police brutality won him admirers in ghettos, on college campuses, and in select Hollywood circles. Newton gave Black Power a compelling urgency and played a pivotal role in the politics of black America during the 1960s and 1970s. Few would deny that Newton's life (1942-1989) was strewn with incidences of violence and that his police record was long. But Newton's struggles with police took place in a rich and troubled context that included urban unrest, police brutality, government repression, and an intense debate over civil rights tactics. Stripped of history and interpretation, the violence of Newton's life brought emphatic indictments of him. Newton's death attracted widespread media attention. However, pundits offered little on Newton as freedom fighter or as theoretician and activist. Huey P. The Radical Theorist dispels myths about Newton's life, but the book is primarily an in-depth examination of Newton's ideas. By exploring this charismatic leader, Jeffries's book makes a valuable contribution to the scant literature on Newton, while also exposing the core tenets and evolving philosophies of the Black Panther Party.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, African American, Biography, Autobiography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2002

Reviews

[radchick in Hercules · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have attended one of the "50th" anniversary exhibits in SF of the Summer of Love...it included a couple of pictures of Huey...so I wanted a reminder...well, with Trump, and Black Lives Matter...nothing has changed!

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by someone I greatly when they discovered this was an area of study I was greatly interested in and somewhat familiar with. This recommendation was **on point**, I loved it and couldn't put the book down, and immediately went in search of other books by the author as well since it was the first time I had ever read anything by Judson Jeffries. Since that time I have also read "Comrades" which is about several different chapters across the country and focuses on their social programs, and I want to read his newest one which focuses on various other chapters across the nation with the same emphasis, and I think it's safe to say I'm officially a fan.

I liked this book because it did an amazing job of isolating the thought and theory behind the Black Panther Party, detailing its evolution over time in response to various factors and the way those ideological shifts manifested in the party itself. It captured the thinking in its purest and most unadulterated form, divorcing it from the bias and the emotional response anything having to do with the Black Panther Party seems to elicit in people, regardless of age or stance on the party. Pro or Con, they command a response.

This book truly serves to highlight just how misunderstood the Black Panther Party was as an organization, and Huey Newton was as an individual and an intellectual, which is rarely how you hear him being described.

I recommend this book to everyone, from those who love the party (obviously you'd read this if you love them, I mean duh), to those who don't. Even if you hate the Black Panther Party and everything they stood for, or if the mere thought of them makes your patriotic blood just simmer to a roiling boil (you more than any other), then please read this book. Who knows, you may just fuck around and realize you only hated what you thought they stood for, and these were some brothas whose philosophy went well beyond the rhetoric, Ya dig?

[Opetoritse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise, comprehensive, and fairly engaging account of Huey Newton's political theories, detailing how he adopted the ideas of past revolutionary activists, mapping the evolution of his views throughout his career, and examining the cult of personality he developed. A good read for anyone interested in political theory, and a must read for those interested in radical political activism and/or African American history.