CompleteMartialArts.com - Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson
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List Price: $16.95
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Manufacturer: Lawrence Hill Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 365.6092
EAN: 9781556522307
ISBN: 1556522304
Label: Lawrence Hill Books
Manufacturer: Lawrence Hill Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 1994-09-01
Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books
Studio: Lawrence Hill Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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A collection of Jackson's letters from prison, Soledad Brother is an outspoken condemnation of the racism of white America and a powerful appraisal of the prison system that fuiled to break his spirit but eventually took his life. Jackson's letters make palpable the intense feelings of anger and rebellion that filled black men in America's prisons in the 1960s. But even removed from the social and political firestorms of the 1960s, Jackson's story still resonates for its portrait of a man taking a stand even while locked down.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Insightful
Comment: This book allowed the reader a rare peek into the thoughts, opinions and emotions of a boy becoming a man in prison. The rage, the hormones, the injustice and the recklessness of the system and his childhood activities. His experience was valid while his words were eloquently laced with black liberation propoganda. The book is a bit mysterious in that there are letters to "A friend," and a person referred to simply as "Z." I have read about George Jackson in accounts others have written about him and they paint him as a giant political figure, ironicaly in the same unrealistic way the prison industry did. This book reveals Mr. Jackson as a young man who struggled with the concepts of who he was, where he came from, how he got there and how he could revolutionize the thoughts of others as an example for change through his letters and his actions. This piece was an important reading. Hard to accept while easy to believe - insightful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Comment: The book came in excellent condition and arrived in a timely manner. Willing to work with again in the future.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intriguing Literature!
Comment: I read this whole book within one week and it definitely left an impression on me. George Jackson was well-written and had become a serious bookworm during his incarceration. Throughout his collection of letters, with a timeline spanning from 1964 to 1970, his knowledge continuously expands. His interest in revolution deepens as well.
I find his responses to his parents relatable. It revealed that as a family, they were, as all are, imperfect and we all face trying times with loved ones no matter how petty the subject may be. I believe that over time, he had become angered by his parents' reluctance to sympathize with his beliefs, which seemed to be the basis of his decision to cease contact with them. However, only for a short period of time. His letters to his younger brother, Jonathan, are tender. It's clear that he was Jonathan's teacher, schooling him and preparing him for the harsh society he would have to face. George wanted to know everything; regardless of the content surrounding the subject. He felt obligated as he took it upon himself to be Jonathan's protective figure. Regarding his letters addressed to Angela, I never received the sense that his letters addressed to her were love letters, but rather revolutionary letters addressed to a younger comrade from her older comrade. His sexist view regarding the woman's role (which at one point he even directed toward his own mother) in the revolution (or the woman's role compared to the male's in any situation) is unmistakable, and regardless of his admiration for Angela (as well as other women he maintained correspondence with) and the fact that he retracted his statements, it is that sexist view in which he never abandoned completely (which, by the way, was evident in his last audio interview). There are also letters addressed to Fay Stender, George's lawyer as well as another revolutionary ally, and I take it that they didn't always see eye-to-eye regarding certain subjects. Even so, she kept him under her wing and continued to counsel him. He continued to use her as a reference as well as his guide.
George's view of the outside world had become limited over the years (like many others who remain isolated from the outside world on a consecutive basis), and it's clear in some of his later letters. He never had another chance to converse with others outside of prison. The only way he could be informed was by literature and visitors. But even in that sense, it wasn't the same. Would he have been able to handle it? Would it have been overwhelming? Or would he have blended in with the population, remaining as unbroken as he remained in prison? We'll never know the answers to those questions. But overall, this book exposes his many moods and the fact that his mind was constantly working.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Still Relevant to the black subculture...
Comment: Fear is a powerful weapon which inspires men to commit terrible acts of savagry. Fear of George L. Jackson led the U.S., Government, the state of California and several agencies of state repression to silence the voice of a great black thinker. This text attests to the fearless nature and level of thought George Jackson was cable of displaying. The courage to formulate and express such thoughts as "the time has come for all of us to stand up and stop trembling, grab the bull by the horns, and ride him till his neck snaps," required courage. In the face of oppossition, repression and incarceration Jackson dared to challenge the authority first of the inmate power structure, the department of corrections, state of California and U.S., government.
This could not be tolerated. So is there any wonder that a man of Jackson's capacity met an early death? Could there be any doubt that a man who could speak on the black subculture of America and its propensity to take "one step forward and three backward," would become a source of contention. When was the last time the black subculture produced a philosopher, warrior, general and poet "It is by words that we convey our thoughts, and bend people to our will."
It would have been more desireable "for some," had George remained stuck in the hopeless cycle of criminality that led to his trapping to begin with but the growth he demonstrated through self-inspired determination, a new kind of black hero was born. He joined the ranks of Malcolm X as a man who could indeed be redemned and accepted, if not by society at large then at least by the black subculture which he sought to influence and organize. So when the day came for George to die on his feet, his enemies undoubtably saw the terror of the dragon which inspired fear in the hearts and minds of their ancestors thousands of years ago when the warriors carrying the dragon as their symbol ruled as conquerers in ancient times.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Riveting, Shocking, Infuriating and Brilliant
Comment: All the verbs above describe the text and the man. Incarcerated, unjustly at that, at the age of 18, this beautiful Man-Child went on to become a brilliant writer, and also, tragically, a martyr of 20th century oppression. Killed in prison at the age of 29, George Jackson's living body is no longer here with us, still his spirit shines and lives on through his probing literature. Much can be said of prison literare, however to consider George Jackson's writings 'prison literature' would be to minimize its power. George Jackson's writings are revolutionary literature par excellence; his writings stand next to Fanon, Rodney and Trotsky. Let us remember George Jackson by reading him, and let us not forget what was done to him. Long Live George Jackson.
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