Panther Baby [Paperback]

Jamal Joseph (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2012

In the 1960s he exhorted students at Columbia University to burn their college to the ground. Today he’s chair of their School of the Arts film division. Jamal Joseph’s personal odyssey—from the streets of Harlem to Riker’s Island and Leavenworth to the halls of Columbia—is as gripping as it is inspiring.Eddie Joseph was a high school honor student, slated to graduate early and begin college. But this was the late 1960s in Bronx’s black ghetto, and fifteen-year-old Eddie was introduced to the tenets of the Black Panther Party, which was just gaining a national foothold. By sixteen, his devotion to the cause landed him in prison on the infamous Rikers Island—charged with conspiracy as one of the Panther 21 in one of the most emblematic criminal cases of the sixties. When exonerated, Eddie—now called Jamal—became the youngest spokesperson and leader of the Panthers’ New York chapter.He joined the “revolutionary underground,” later landing back in prison. Sentenced to more than twelve years in Leavenworth, he earned three degrees there and found a new calling. He is now chair of Columbia University’s School of the Arts film division—the very school he exhorted students to burn down during one of his most famous speeches as a Panther.In raw, powerful prose, Jamal Joseph helps us understand what it meant to be a soldier inside the militant Black Panther movement. He recounts a harrowing, sometimes deadly imprisonment as he charts his path to manhood in a book filled with equal parts rage, despair, and hope.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Orphan, activist, subversive, urban guerrilla, the FBI’s most wanted fugitive, drug addict, drug counselor, convict, writer, poet, filmmaker, father, professor, youth advocate, and Oscar nominee Jamal Joseph lives with his wife and family in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books (February 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616201290
• ISBN-13: 978-1616201296
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > History > Americas > United States > African Americans
  • #62 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > African-American & Black

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TIMELY AND WELL TOLD, January 26, 2012

By 

B. Terry (Mount Vernon, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panther Baby (Paperback)

A must read for all people, especially people just waking up to or continuing in the struggle to dismantle American Apartheid. This story reads like a riveting, non-stop, action adventure, with much heartbreak, tears and joy encountered along the way. I was taken back to an earlier time and reminded of what still needs to be done. A remarkable man; a remarkable life; a remarkable story. Thank you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read In One Sitting, February 18, 2012

By 

Nancy Stoddart (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Panther Baby (Hardcover)

It's around 9:30 PST on Saturday night and I just finished Jamal Joseph's amazing book. It's all true but it's as good as any thriller fiction I've read, maybe better. I started reading this afternoon, forgot to eat dinner I was so drawn in. It's the story of a man who's lived his life starting at the bottom and ending up at the top, with two stints in prison in between - all this before he became the Dean of Columbia University Film School. He was a Black Panther, a community organizer, a prison playwright, a screenwriter, a director and a husband and father of three. For those of you who weren't around during the Civil Rights wars, here's a chance to experience them. For those of you who were, it's a chance to reminisce as if you were hearing it from an old and dear friend. Well written, fast paced, lively, tragic and in the end, joyful.

The film rights to Jamal Joseph's story have been optioned by Focus Features but don't wait until the movie comes out, read the book now. You won't be able to put it down.