Live from Death Row Paperback – June 1, 1996

Kept me hooked the whole book couldn't wait to turn the next page. Can't believe they could convict a man to death with little to no evidence

In this collection of essays and columns, Mumia brings us backinto reality. It is necessary for our mental survival to remember thatthis world, and the US is part of it, even the acme of it, is a violent and brutal world. It is necessary to remember that some social or ethnic or cultural groups in any supposed democracy of the world is considered as inferior, dangerous, and hence and thus rejected into oblivion. It is necessary to remember that any group of men, wommen and children that is thus rejected into non-existence and invisibility (as Ralph Ellison would say) has the instinct to remind themselves to the consciousness of the rejectors, of the segregationists, of the apartheid-advocates. Hence it is necessary to remember that in the US a war is going on against the black community when they want to be equal, free and treated with justice. Mumia just does that and we are just a little bit saner and wiser after reading this book. The Afro-American community in the US, but some other groups too, are submitted to crack-war, just like Indians were submitted to liquor-war. By spreading this poison in the Black community, the US at large, responsible for the welfare of all their citizens, spread violence, gang wars and crime and thus justify repression. But the main victims of that repression are those who denounce this war gainst the Afro-American community. There is another dimension in this book, even if it is not dominant. The Blacks must take their own business, including security, into their own hands, and thus "militance" for the freedom, equality and security of the Black community has to increase to conquer those three objectives against the system. And Mumia finds fantastic roots in people like Eldridge Cleaver, Huey P. Newton, Malcolm X, MOVE, PUSH and many others. At the same time he is critical of Martin Luther King's limits (his non-violence that can never eradicate that kind of genocidal violence from within a society); Jesse Jackson's cult of appearances to be respected because the looks are right, the hair is combed, the clothes are clean, etc; all religion's hypocrisy when they replace fight for justice with prayers for justice, forgetting that Jesus was the first and foremost victim of injustice, of the death penalty, just like Moses and the enslaved jews, just like Daniel in the lions' pit, just like so many others. We must cast the seven scourges of Egypt onto the capitalistic world. One regret, one unsatisfied desire: women are unluckily more or less essentially absent from those essays. A name here and there, but nothing really consistant. I deem this male-dominance in the book is due to a very long sojourn in Death Row, only with men. Yes there are some women out there fighting their way, and their community's way through violence and injustice. An inspiring book that makes you feel so good. Have you ever been submitted to the famous body-cavity strip search? You then discover how our capitalistic societies want the underlayers of society to be and behave: bend over and open all your cavities. No obscenity implied, just reference to the obscenity of the system. The Jews, when arriving in Auschwitz were submitted to the very same treatment, before being poisoned and burnt (though burnt after their bodies had been used to make blankets from their hairs and soap from their fat). The ashes were then transformed into fertilizers. Humanity has always been ugly, but the hypocrisy of some rulers of our democratic world has no limits, not even the sky, and they seize both day and night to impose their rule or rules. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU Paris Universities IX and II

Great read..

Awesome read

Gives insight into prison life for black men their trials and tribulations. Something I never knew

Good read.

....I enjoyed this book I read death blossoms previously...I enjoyed this book very much it made me so angry because I truly feel that he is in jail only for his political beliefs....but one thing I can say is that his spirit is not broken...and that is so beautiful....the main thing this book did was change my views on capital punishment at first I was all for it but those views changed I am now against it....free mumia!!!

I found this book very informative and interesting. It didn't really convince me if Mumia Abu-Jamal was innocent or guilty of the charge in which he was imprisoned but it did convince me that prison and the whole criminal system are racist, unfair and immoral. It also made me wonder about real lawyers too. What are they really here to do? He did explain how innocent people can be incarcerated and he described how prisoners are often terribly mistreated.