Winner of the American Book Award. This is the story of Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Kathleen Cleaver, Fred Hampton, Ericka Huggins, Angela Davis, George Jackson, Assata Shakur, Bunchy Carter, Elaine Brown, George Murray, Geronimo Pratt, and the Black Panthers who put their lives on the line for revolution. This is the history of their struggle against racism and American imperialism, how they built power from below, the war waged against them by the U.S. government, and the eventual unravelling of their movement. Notice: The California Department of Corrections has designated this book dangerous contraband. All CA prisoners are prohibited from purchasing or reading this book. In Oakland, California, in 1966, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton armed themselves, began patrolling the police, and promised to prevent police brutality. Unlike the Civil Rights Movement that called for full citizenship rights for blacks within the U.S., the Black Panther Party rejected the legitimacy of the U.S. government and positioned itself as part of a global struggle against American imperialism. In the face of intense repression, the Party flourished, becoming the center of a revolutionary movement with offices in 68 U.S. cities and powerful allies around the world. Black against Empire  cuts through the mythology and obfuscation, revealing the political dynamics that drove the explosive growth of this revolutionary movement, and its bitter unraveling. Informed by twelve years of meticulous archival research, as well as familiarity with most of the former Party leadership and many rank-and-file members, this book is the definitive history of one of the greatest challenges ever posed to American state power. "An account that should be called, above everything else,'definitive.' . . . The book's honest attempt to understand the intricacies of the movement is underscored by its commitment to nonpartisanship: While Bloom and Martin take great care not to vilify the Panthers as armed thugs, neither do they romanticize them simply as a misunderstood civil rights group. The result is a downright scientific analysis of a subject that leaves most readers understandably unable to stay neutral." -- Bookforum "Vivid renderings of scene ... make comprehensible both the movement and the times." -- Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW "A comprehensive history." -- New Yorker "Unique...in the scope and depth of its scholarship." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review " Black against Empire is a masterful work...Easily the most impressive, sweeping, and substantive scholarly history of the Black Panther Party." -- Journal of American History "The book will become a classic." -- American Historical Review "Nothing short of impressive." -- Social Forces "The first comprehensive history of the party." -- London Review of Books "An account that should be called, above everything else,'definitive.' . . . The book's honest attempt to understand the intricacies of the movement is underscored by its commitment to nonpartisanship: While Bloom and Martin take great care not to vilify the Panthers as armed thugs, neither do they romanticize them simply as a misunderstood civil rights group. The result is a downright scientific analysis of a subject that leaves most readers understandably unable to stay neutral." -- Bookforum "Immediately assumes a central and critical spot within the Panther canon. More than a decade in the making, this is no romantic valentine to a bygone day... it takes the Black Panther Party seriously as a political entity taking dead aim on American laws and values. . . . What Bloom and Martin have given us is as authoritative, respectful and complete a record of the Black Panther Party's workings as we are likely to get." -- Pop Matters "A comprehensive and compelling history of the Black Panther Party. As close to complete as one text can possibly be, it is the book I would recommend to anyone wanting to read just one book about the Black Panthers." -- Counterpunch "Finally! A book that clarifies the history of our movement, our aspirations, our struggles, and the bitter challenges we faced. This is a profoundly important and revealing work. Everyone who lived through these events, anyone who wants to understand the Black Panther Party, and especially the younger generations striving to shape the future must read this book!" --Bobby Seale, Chairman, Black Panther Party "I read Black against Empire while on sabbatical, and it changed something in me. #BlackLivesMatter was created just a few months later. The political history of one of the most misunderstood black political efforts in our nation's history, Black against Empire offers important considerations for today's black liberation movement." --Alicia Garza, cofounder, #BlackLivesMatter network "This is the definitive history of one of the great revolutionary organizations in the history of this country. Let us learn deep democratic lessons and s