Customer Reviews

Soul on Ice

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I've spent the last thirty-two years being reminded of the brutal honesty and truth of much of this classical work on race, sex, and poverty by Eldridge Cleaver. I was honestly shocked by some of the sexual/racial ideas it contains the first time I read it in 1968, and decided to try it again to see if my present understanding of and assumptions about America now render this work moot- or affirm it.

Not surprisingly, as much as I'd like to confirm or refute this work, the jury still won't come in and remains out. You should read this book if you've thought deeply about the "why" of our race problem in America, our prison problem in America, or the psychology of gender. You really owe this one to your real-world educational and intellectual development, whether you agree with it, or like it, or not. It will challenge, frustrate, and in the end, inspire you to look deeper. Great achievement; makes you wonder what extraordinary things never surfaced from inside this man's mind.

A must-read from the 20th century.

This book is actually somewhere closer to three and a half stars. It may even move up to four upon a second reading. It is a harsh book that is difficult to accept at times. The homophobia and sexism can be usettling. Of course, one must understand where Cleaver was coming from. The rascism is easier to understand in that light. And it should be noted that a lot of the anger and bitterness began to wane in later years. Cleaver seems to have undergone a spirtual transformation similar to that of Malcom X. This remains an important book from the 60s. It is critical for Americans both black and white (and yellow, brown and red as well) to read books like this to try to understand the horrors that have underscored this nations evolution. Cleaver, overcame tremendous obstacles to achieve this degree of success.

The FBI could not have created a better person to sow the seeds of destruction for the Black Panther Party than Eldridge Cleaver.

The treatise from jail - before Cleaver became a BPP member - catapulted him into the 1960s revolutionary/black power movements. But his so-called consciousness was never for the greater good of the whole.

Cleaver failed to gain control of the BPP during his time in exile - and when he was essentially booted out of Cuba - by making what he felt was a left-turn by placing the organization into solidarity with nation's "at war" with U.S. imperialism. The attempted coup was foiled when Huey Newton kicked Cleaver and his followers out of the party. But Cleaver sounded so good when barking out orders thousands of miles away!

The split began the fragmentation of the party. I contend it was the cornerstone development for the U.S. government to manipulate as a means to destroy the party from within. And I still have questions concerning the police shoot-out where Cleaver emerged basically unscathed, but his comrade in arms was shot dead.

Cleaver - a convicted rapist - was legendary for his physical/verbal abuse of women. Again, the sickening spector of control through intimidation.

It should have come as no surprise to anyone that years later Cleaver made an abrupt political turn into a right-extremist camp. He feared not being the head of the game, and with no place to turn on the left, Cleaver scampered to the right in hopes his new friends would pick him as captain of the team.

As a slice of American History, Soul On Ice remains an essential read. But Cleaver's ideology cut severe wounds in the BPP, caused death and dissension, while arguably driving Newton into consolidating a national party into one Oakland chapter.

Cleaver a revolutionary? Hardly. An egotistical coward? Yes.

I have seldom read anything as offensive as Cleaver's attempt to pass off rape as a "revolutionary" act. By his own admission he is a serial rapist,and if he'd served time for all of them would never even have been out of jail in the sixties in the first place! While the other content of this book isn't totally worthless, I found that Cleaver came off as a typical criminal, filled with reasons why SOMEBODY ELSE was responsible for everything he did wrong. The first step to self respect is to accept responsibility for one's actions, Cleaver has not done that, nor does he give the slightest indication that he ever will. If you want to read an autobiography of a panther read Huey Newton's, because with Newton, instead of self pity, there was substance and intelligence behind the anger.

Mr. Cleaver wrote a semiautobiography about how society sets itself up along racial and gender lines. Raping women is reprehensible and evil and it doesn't help solve the racial/gender problem. It excabates it. Challenging the racist/sexist society by making alliances with people whom he considered to be his enemies will solve most of the problem. He should have shown love for his fellow man/woman. Didn't Jesus tell people to love your enemies, not hating and violating them? Later on in life, his views have changed for the better.

Whew! The how-to shows the success of a writer who bootstrapped his way to the top a best-sellers list, deftly using his experiences and the several mentors who recognized his brainpower. The life path Eldridge Cleaver spent in getting to this writing peak is the not-to part. Much of the book is the kind of rant one might hear on Sunday morning TV, often with a socialist twist. But the ranting is quite clearly written, and sometimes just when the reader is about to say, "Oh, for pete's sake," the author nails a concluding sentence right on the mark, and not necessarily where the reader thought the thread was heading. Such an unexpected thought hits in the middle of "The Primeval Mitosis" chapter: Cleaver concludes that, "liberality is, in fact, charity." How true. To do the thought fairly, one has to read the chapter up to that point, of course.

Then comes the chapter, "The Allegory of the Black Eunuchs." If Cleaver could write like this for a whole book in a row, he would be a best-seller without resorting to polemics. Polemics, unfortunately, was the whole point. The disjointedness and flights of fury and semi-sense that showed up sporadically in the first part of the book suddenly funnel into a well-told story, almost in the style of the biblical tale of Job. Job's "friends" were more interesting (and speak better) than Cleaver's wooden pen pals, but "Lazarus," or "Infidel" is arguably a much more complex person than old Job. He thus makes several key points using a character who changes page by page, chameleon-like. Here is a master story teller.

Whatever the "yeas" and "boos" for most of the earlier book, the last chapter stands out as a worthy piece of writing. The reader realizes at this late point that the whole book was leading up to this ending, an apology and a love letter from all black men to all black women, from souls on centuries of ice. This was wonderfully done, and all the earlier diatribes and nonsense look like mere practice writing for the finale. That chapter is worth re-reading, as well as "Eunuchs.".

You Must read this book! It is an important Historical (1968) Document of life in america. Eldridge Cleaver holds nothing back from the reader & makes no excuses. This book is raw, uncensored, and will make you squirm. It will make you re-think your beliefs about racism, crime, sex, incarceration & humanity. amy,CT,USA,28.