Customer Reviews

Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson

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I first read this work nearly thirty years ago, and at the time I was so moved by the passion and pain contained within it that I could barely speak about it...it seemed almost too real, too personal to bear...especially after George Jackson was denied the romance of his life (Dr. Angela Davis) and murdered for allegedly trying to "escape" from Soledad Prison-really to nowhere, if you look at what happened.

In retrospect, I am sure that years from now this work will be studied by a different educational system...not with his communist vision (where else might he have found his political haven?), but a system which will value the perspective of even its lowest common denominator, if intelligently and thoughtfully expressed. In the meantime, I suspect this work is too strong for the average reader and student of American society. But read it for its extradinary exhibition of love. It's extraordinary recitation of pain, lonliness, and disappointment. Read it because it shows, no- takes you inside the mind of one who saw and knew and lived our system at its most brutal level.

Ultimately, Mr. Jackson reveals how one man's strength and humanity renders our stone walls (literal and figurative) powerless over the human spirit. George's passion, will, love, and commitment will one day be vindicated.

George L. Jackson's oeuvre is a honest, brutal appraisal of the amerikan prison system that victimized and eventually murdered him in 1971. As stated in the introduction by the author's nephew, Jonathan Jackson, Jr. his words are still, unfortunately, relevant today vis-a-vis Mumia Abu-Jamal, the privatization of the prison system, etc. Worthy of a careful reading along with the Angela Davis Autobiography. Truly revolutionary words that survived his death and will presage his revindication.

George Jackson was our modern day Barrabas. He was truly a man whose mental capacity was far more advanced than he ever realized. The tradegy of his brother Jonathan Jackson hits so close to home. This is a MUST READ among all of the current good work out there. Get it and read it with your soul...

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.

Beautifully and eloquently written. I highly suggest you read this. More people should know about the 60s and 70s and the movements that forever changed things. RIP.

"Soledad Brother" is a powerful testament to the struggle of George Jackson to bring truth and find justice in a totally un-just system. The letters of George Jackson put you in that cruel jail cell right next to him. His words and his totally uncompromising spirit will stir your soul with emotions. From pain and anger, to sorrow, but he will also make you laugh ultimately though, he will educate you. Because George Jackson is a teacher...a most compelling teacher. He teaches with love but he mixes it with a strong dose of rebuke; particularly against those who have the nature of a quisling.

He rips apart the falsehoods that create conflicts of Race and class. Then he relates the purposes for such divisions. He gives graphic insights concerning the "Civil Rights" struggles that marked the tumultuous, game changing, decade of the Sixties. Apparently, his warnings were not heeded and his letters could have been written today.

"Soledad Brother" is a must read not just for Black people, but for all people who are lovers of truth, justice and freedom!

In light of the fact that today, in 2009, the prison population in the U.S. is at an all-time high, with more people incarcerated in our jails and prisons than in the entire rest of the world combined, with one percent of the entire adult population incarcerated and thirteen percent of all black males between the ages of 18 and 29, with over twenty-four hundred persons sentenced as juveniles in the U.S. to life without parole (Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch estimate that there are no more than 18-24 in the entire rest of the WORLD), this heartbreaking look at the reality of prison life is more relevant than ever. This book provides an incredibly eloquent window into the complete failure of the criminal justice system in the United States, and the dehumanizing and criminalizing effect of prison itself on both prisoners and guards. It is also a literary masterpiece that stands beside prison classics like Dostoyevsky's House of the Dead or Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. George Jackson created a portrait of prison so damning and true that it can lead to only one conclusion: prisons must be abolished and a new system for the rehabilitation of criminals must be created, or America will become just "one big prison yard," to quote Bob Dylan from his song "George Jackson."

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.

This collection of letters by Jackson is well worth reading for several reasons. First, as several other reviewers point out, it provides a valuable (if by now slightly dated) insight into the American penal system. Second, it illustrates the tragedy of people with Jackson's potential being diverted (whether you believe by racism, socio-economic circumstances, poor judgment, or whatever) into the self-perpetuating criminal/penal complex. However, I think some of the raves are overrated. Jackson clearly was an intelligent man who could have accomplished much if his engergies were otherwise directed. But he lacks perspective; the tone is often stridently self-justifying, and he lacks any real moral insight into the magnitude of the violence and pain he inflicted on others.

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.