Editorial Reviews
Publishers Weekly
King has led a remarkable life: a hardscrabble childhood in and around New Orleans, a troubled adolescence, and a series of encounters with the justice system that led to several stints at Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary. He radicalized while serving his third sentence, joining the Black Panther Party and agitating for improved conditions for prisoners. King was subsequently placed in solitary confinement, where he remained for the better part of three decades. The book is an important document of the failures of the justice system. Mumia Abu-Jamal's foreword attests to the gravity of these failures. However, King's own telling doesn't quite measure up to the story itself. His prose is loose and repetitive, particularly in the early chapters, so it sometimes difficult to keep tabs on people and events. The text is followed by a small collection of interviews and essays that prove engaging but haphazard, in keeping with the anecdotal bent of the autobiography. King's story is powerful, carefully observed, and deserves a wide audience, but such an incendiary topic requires greater precision in its telling. B&W photos.
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From the Publisher
"Three aspects of this book make it accessible and applicable: King's aptitude for storytelling—non-linear, conversational, straightforward, and insightful—his eventual explanation of the Black Panther Party's significance and power, and the details of his own legal battles fought from behind prison bars." —WIN Magazine"King uses his own history to show how the racial and economic hierarchies in mid-20th century Louisiana condemned most Black people to lives of insecurity and fear." —Colorlines
"There are more than 3,000 people serving life without the possibility of parole in Angola today, some as young as 14 when they were sent there, and many of them innocent but without the lawyer to prove it. We owe it to them, and others in a similar plight around the world, to read this book." —Clive Stafford Smith, director, Reprieve
"[King] fights, he yells, he refuses to take the beatings, whether ideologically or physically. He never gives up hope." —San Francisco Bay View
"[The Angola Three], as Robert reveals in this stunning account of his life, have fought tirelessly to redress injustice, not only for themselves, but for others." —Gordon Roddick, activist and cofounder, The Body Shop
"King's story is powerful, carefully observed, and deserves a wide audience." —Publishers Weekly (January 26, 2013)
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What People are saying about this
From the Publisher
"Three aspects of this book make it accessible and applicable: King's aptitude for storytelling—non-linear, conversational, straightforward, and insightful—his eventual explanation of the Black Panther Party's significance and power, and the details of his own legal battles fought from behind prison bars." —WIN Magazine"King uses his own history to show how the racial and economic hierarchies in mid-20th century Louisiana condemned most Black people to lives of insecurity and fear." —Colorlines
"There are more than 3,000 people serving life without the possibility of parole in Angola today, some as young as 14 when they were sent there, and many of them innocent but without the lawyer to prove it. We owe it to them, and others in a similar plight around the world, to read this book." —Clive Stafford Smith, director, Reprieve
"[King] fights, he yells, he refuses to take the beatings, whether ideologically or physically. He never gives up hope." —San Francisco Bay View
"[The Angola Three], as Robert reveals in this stunning account of his life, have fought tirelessly to redress injustice, not only for themselves, but for others." —Gordon Roddick, activist and cofounder, The Body Shop
"King's story is powerful, carefully observed, and deserves a wide audience." —Publishers Weekly (January 26, 2013)
Read More
