From Publishers Weekly
Johnny Spain was one of the "San Quentin Six," who was convicted of a conspiracy to escape the prison. His life story, reconstructed by lawyer and author Andrews, has moments both sad and stirring. The son of a liaison between his married white mother and a black lover, Spain was sent from Jim Crow Mississippi to live with a black family in California, but he found neither love nor peace. Convicted in 1966 of a murder committed during an impetuous robbery, Spain was thrust into California's prison system, where authorities cultivated racial animosities among inmates and where guards shot to kill. There, Spain learned the brutal ropes and became radicalized. Also, thanks to Black Panthers George Jackson and Elaine Brown, Spain grew to accept his white heritage. Despite strong evidence that Spain's conspiracy conviction was illegitimate, he gained no reprieve from the court system; rather, he became a peacemaker among prisoners, and ultimately reconciled with his mother. Finally, in 1988, he was granted parole. Spain now works in community relations in San Francisco. Given Spain's impressive journey out of prison, the reader wishes for more information on his doings since 1988 and his reflections on current debates about prison and race. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Johnny Spain's life provides the raw material for a potentially fascinating biography. Spain, who was born in 1949, had a white mother and an African American father. As a child he did not feel fully accepted by members of either race. Early in his life, he became involved in various criminal activities and spent over 20 years in California prisons. There, Spain became a leader of the Black Panther Party and in the prisoners' rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Spain was released from prison in 1988 and currently works as a community organizer in San Francisco. Unfortunately, attorney Andrews's biography has serious deficiencies. It is not just sympathetic to Spain but sometimes borders on adulation, which limits the author's ability to analyze Spain's life seriously. Despite Andrews's many interviews with Spain, her depictions of some of the major events in his life are cursory and need further explication. An optional purchase for public libraries.
-?Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, LafayetteCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
