Target Zero: A Life in Writing Hardcover February 7, 2006

by Eldridge Cleaver, Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Excellent Book

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver, better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was a writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party.

In 1958 he was put in jail for rape. There he was given a copy of The Communist Manifesto. When he got released he joined the Black Panther Party. He then joined the Oakland-based Black Panther Party, serving as Minister of Information, or spokesperson.

His book Soul On Ice is a collection of essays. In the most controversial part of the book, Cleaver acknowledges committing acts of rape, stating that he initially raped black women in the ghetto "for practice" and then embarked on the serial rape of white women. He described these crimes as politically inspired.

Later in life he converted to Mormonism.

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edited by Kathleen Cleaver, this book is a selective compilation of Eldridge Cleaver's writing. It opens with his prison classics, and large excerpts from Soul on Ice. Also included are several examples of personal correspondence, and his excellent interview with Playboy Magazine. It closes with an address he gave after his conversion to born-again Christianity, followed by a tribute from his "running buddy," Cecil Brown.

Kathleen Neal Cleaver edited the volume, and her introduction, together with Henry Louis Gates Jr's Foreword, are excellent additions.

Think of it as one of those posthumous "Greatest Hits" retrospective albums that includes all the #1 hits and classic B-sides, along with the less-exciting later works that are give valuable perspective to the artist's growth and development.