Soul on Ice [Paperback]

Eldridge Cleaver (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 12, 1999

The now-classic memoir that shocked, outraged, and ultimately changed the way America looked at the civil rights movement and the black experience.

By turns shocking and lyrical, unblinking and raw, the searingly honest memoirs of Eldridge Cleaver are a testament to his unique place in American history. Cleaver writes in Soul on Ice, "I'm perfectly aware that I'm in prison, that I'm a Negro, that I've been a rapist, and that I have a Higher Uneducation." What Cleaver shows us, on the pages of this now classic autobiography, is how much he was a man.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A collection of essays straight out of Dante's Inferno. The hell is there, and its name is America...as with Malcolm X, Cleaver's book is a spiritual autobiography. An odyssey of a soul in search of itself, groping toward a personal humanism which will give meaning to life...the book is important...the book is extraordinary."—Shane Stevens, The Progressive

"A remarkable book...beautifully written...Eldridge Cleaver makes you twist and flinch...he throws light on the dark areas that we wish he would leave alone."—The Nation

"Brilliant and revealing."—New York Times Book Review

"All the essays [in Soul on Ice] deal with racial hurt, racial struggle, and racial pride...Eldridge Cleaver is a promising and powerful writer, an intelligent and turbulent and passionate and eloquent man."—Robert Coles, Atlantic Monthly

From the Publisher

The searingly honest memoirs of the man who shocked, outraged and ultimately changed the way America looked at the civil rights movement remain today as a testament to the man's intelligence, insightfulness, and place in American history. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Delta (January 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038533379X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385333795
• Product Dimensions: 0.7 x 5.2 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties
  • #69 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Asian

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 75 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not to be confused with Leave it to Beaver August 15, 2002

By matthewslaughter

Format:Paperback

Even though this was one of the most important and popular books of the 1960s, it is not discussed that much now, some thirty-five years after its initial publication. "Soul on Ice" is as much an allegorical masterpiece as it is a real description of black male (whom he refers to as Supermasculine Menials) attitudes towards prison-life, white racism (and white women in particular, who are here referred to as Ogres and the Ultrafeminines) and the Nation of Islam (Cleaver writes compellingly about his disassociation with the Nation, citing their racism--"The onus of teaching racial supremacy and hate, which is the white man's burden, is pretty hard to bear"). Cleaver's at-times amazing writing gives this book a peculiar power, and given this, it is easy to understand why the book was so popular in the late 1960s. For several reasons, though, it is easy to see why this book doesn't get as much attention as, say, James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time" [1963]. The chapter on Baldwin in "Soul on Ice," entitled "Notes on a Native Son" (a reference to one of Baldwin's early essays) is exceedingly homophobic, and other sections fairly hateful towards women (even though, in this regard, Cleaver is at times aware of his own misogyny--especially in his blushingly honest letters to one-time attorney Beverly Axelrod) and exceedingly macho. Many contemporary readers might not have the patience for this (especially given Baldwin's elevated status in the world of literature). Also, this book has lost some of its bite over the years because of excellent books written by participants in the Black Power Movement and the Black Panther Party. "Soul on Ice"--especially when compared with George Jackson's "Soledad Brother" (1971), Huey P. Newton's "Revolutionary Suicide" (1973), Amiri Baraka (1984) and Angela Y. Davis' (1974) autobiographies, and Elaine Brown's "A Taste of Power" (1992)--lacks the political vision, accuracy and believability of these other books, but it should also be credited for setting some of the standards by which these books would later have to judge themselves against, especially in regard to prison life (though Jackson's "Soledad Brother" is much more powerful in this regard). Nevertheless, "Soul on Ice" is a compelling read, and I agree with a statement that Ishmael Reed makes in the introduction that this book IS the 60s. If this memoir were a western, we could smell the sawdust on the floor.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars There are insights in here somewhere. . . November 9, 2000

By "trevisol"

Format:Paperback

Eldridge Cleaver writes his memoirs here, and much of the book seeks to justify his actions and sentiments. It is as if he knows that his actions have been looked down upon by America and he needs to tell us where he is coming from. I found it shocking, not only that he should admit to raping women, both white and black, but more so that he makes excuses for why he HAD to rape them. He also explains his veiws on the inferiority complex that has plagued the African American since slavery, and his motivation for violent response. These views, though, are exceedingly hard to sift out of the pontificatory run-on sentance that permeates this book. He will launch into the feelings of a black woman in this society, and while his point may be valid, his statement consists of two pages of metaphorical secondary clauses. But, for all of his circumlocution, Cleaver's points provide great insight not only into a black revolutionary, but a convict, a Muslim after the style of Malcom X, and the african american experience in general. In all, his thoughts are hauntingly true.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars SOUL ON ICE October 21, 2004

By Anj

Format:Paperback

Soul on Ice, written by Eldrige Cleaver is a collection of essays (written during his 9 years in Folsom State Prison during the 1960's) in which Cleaver discovers his racial identity. "I knew I was black, but never really stopped to take stock of what i was involved in. I met life as an individual and took my chances." Cleaver was sentenced 9 years for raping a white woman. Cleaver felt his crime was a way to "spit" on the white man's values and women. He lived his life only to benefit himself. After meeting with his attorney, he realizes the value of listening and absorbing what another human being has to say. "The price of hating other human beings is loving one's self less." Cleaver, educating himself in prison, also writes "In prison those things held and denied from the prisoner become precisely what he wants most of all."

Cleaver becomes especially interested in the writings of Thomas Merton, particularly his excerpt on the "New York Black Ghetto: Harlem." After many religious endeavors, Cleaver found himself most intrigued by the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. Malcolm X appealed to the black convicts caught in the vicious prison paroll cycle, like himself. One aspect in which Cleaver felt most attracted to in Malcolm was that the society owed a debt to prisoners and not vice versa. Malcolm X did not "compromise truth to have favor with the white power structure." The American tactic was to emmasculate the black leadership and to manipulate them. The unique black leader who would defy white power would ultimately end up dead, in prison, or forced out of the country. Classic illustrations of this policy are the careers of Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Dubois, and Paul Robeson. White America crushes the black leaders while inflating the images of Uncle Tom's (black on the surface, white on the inside)and celebrities. Power is taken out of political and economic context and plainly debased to the level of good sportsmanship. James Baldwin was an author who wrote "Native Son" and "White Negro." Cleaver, inspired by Baldwin, felt that police brutatily was not caused by the hatred for the black man, but for social, economical, and political reasons. Blacks, having their freedom for approximately 100 years as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation, were still treated as "part of someone's invetory of assests."

After the most violent negro uprisings, the Burning of Watts, the white power structure pacifies the black community by appointing John Roseboro, an African American baseball player for the dodgers, to consultant for community relations. Cleaver also writes about the Vietnam War. Black soldiers are called upon to sacrafice their lives for freedom in Vietnam. In Watts they are killed because of their desire for freedom. Cleaver felt the black man should stay and die here for a better life.

Cleaver's first imprisonment in 1954, for a drug charge, set the tone for his next 9 year term. Cleaver hung a poster of a white woman in his cell like the other prisoners. One of the guards came by and tore the poster down. The guard would only allow Cleaver to hang a picture of a black woman. Cleaver realizes that his attraction to the white women is not because of beauty or sexual appeal but because of their status and symbol. The white woman displays a symbol of freedom while the black woman is a symbol of slavery. "I will not be free until the day i can have a white woman in my bed and a white man minds his own business."

Although Cleaver's actions were not always moral nor did he go about things in a peaceful way, his fight was to allow the black race to revive their eradicated identity. From the moment the blacks were brought to this country from Africa, the white man imposed their culture and heritage upon them. Cleaver's quote, dealing with the white woman in bed, hits the nail on the head. He does not care for trivial freedoms and rights such as drinking from the same water fountain or riding at the front of the bus, he cares for the freedom where he can do what he wants, when he wants, without the white man looking over his shoulder. "One task that we have in the black community is a coupe de'etat against our present leadership, to strip them from that machinery that controls the community. So that new ideas and new people can percualate up, then we can have a new agenda."

I thorougly enjoyed this book because Cleaver moves from hate and violence towards an understanding of himself and humanity. I recommend this book to anyone who is willing to gain a better understanding of the black struggle in the 1960's.