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African American Life
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
This book is both a satire of the civil rights problems in the United States in the late 60s and a serious attempt to focus on the issue of black militancy.
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1969
527 people are currently reading
10695 people want to read
About the author
Sam Greenlee
8 books88 followersElder Sam Greenlee is an African American writer of novels, screeplays, stage plays, and poems. He has been a social activist since the age of 15.
His first well known and most controversal novel was The Spook Who Sat by the Door published in 1968. He also co-wrote the screeplay adaption of the novel. The film was released in 1973. In 1990 Greenlee was the Illinois poet laureate.
His first well known and most controversal novel was The Spook Who Sat by the Door published in 1968. He also co-wrote the screeplay adaption of the novel. The film was released in 1973. In 1990 Greenlee was the Illinois poet laureate.
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July 4, 2020
One of the best books that I have ever read.
With all that's happening surrounding Black Lives Matter in the states, and reflecting upon the Black Panthers and the legacy of the Panthers, this book could and may serve as our version of propaganda towards joining armies for the liberation of black lives.
I've never read anything quite like this and honestly, I started reading it and halfway through stopped and started from the beginning all over again, slowly. I realized there were major things here. I thought back to a video I seen on twitter the other day of a young black boy, less than 10, dancing in some impoverished place, barefoot, hitting moves that million-dollar ballerinas could only imagine to hit barefoot and was like wow. This book is like that video. It will take your breath away. Imagine what resources, organization and a shift in political structures could do to change the lives, to improve lives in black and brown communities on a micro and macro level. The raw talent is typically there, it's just that opportunity that isn't most times - and why? You know why.
A New York Times report states that Black Lives Matter is the largest movement in US history. They have no central leader. I think that it's important to have no central leader in these times because we've seen how the U.S. kills all leaders for the liberation of black lives to put us in our place. I say us, because Canada has this same problem as well, Indigenous and Black populations are being killed at rates that would be inconceivable in white populations. Similarly, other nations have this problem, the United Kingdom, South Africa, etc. Anti-black sentiment is not unheard of internationally. Colonial violence, theft and imperialism have left wastelands of various communities and nations forcing people to act in ways that those same forces then deem deplorable. Imagine if those communities and nations were armed in areas that are generally ignored politically and socially? Areas left to disintegrate while being withheld the necessities for life and prosperity. What could and will happen to surrounding communities when marginalized communities are pushed to the edge? This is why folks are so fucking scared at the moment. We've all heard stupid talk about individualism. We've all heard "why am I being held responsible for the ways of my ancestors?" We've seen the "I apologize" videos. That's why they're scared at this moment and you see large corporations trying to move themselves to the other side of history. The prospects of losing the black dollar, crippling local economies and driving American businesses to ruin loom large. It's all in here. Discussions of communities of colour coming together to overthrow the brutal hands they've been dealt, while non-black and non-poc communities benefit from the structures left behind from their forefathers, built upon the backs of the people they want to "apologize" to, without actually paying for anything. It's only a matter of time before the world rights itself. All debts must be paid, no matter how much time passes. There were dinosaurs here once. The world is round after all. We should work toward repayment civilly, we would hope. This book doesn't say shit about anything named civility tho.
This book reflects so much about communities that are withheld the basics, and what would happen if they were to come together for revolt. I do believe we are in this space at this very moment in time. Will we get farther than the Panthers, especially with the buy-in of our allies and friends? There's a possibility.
This is the kind of book that will reveal more and more and more to you the more you sit and think about it. It's also the kind of book that will change and shape-shift every single time you read it to become more and more powerful. Touching this text, I can feel the power emanating from it's work. Sam Greenlee offered up something powerful and poetic. I'm actually surprised that my adult life is the first time I've heard about this book scrolling around.. it's crazy to me. It scared me at points too, how many of us will have to perish for liberation against our own countries. How many of us have already perished in vain and have struggled and are still struggling against state violence, Babylonian constructs such as the police. Couple this book with a recent watching of Da 5 Bloods and you really feel like -- it's too grim to discuss. Apparently there's also a film of this novel... maybe one day - if I can, I might watch it, but these are definitely activating materials. I feel like it's inspired me and crystallized my vision as a social worker regarding the type of work I want to engage in, in my community.
This is definitely a book I'm going to return to in the future.
With all that's happening surrounding Black Lives Matter in the states, and reflecting upon the Black Panthers and the legacy of the Panthers, this book could and may serve as our version of propaganda towards joining armies for the liberation of black lives.
I've never read anything quite like this and honestly, I started reading it and halfway through stopped and started from the beginning all over again, slowly. I realized there were major things here. I thought back to a video I seen on twitter the other day of a young black boy, less than 10, dancing in some impoverished place, barefoot, hitting moves that million-dollar ballerinas could only imagine to hit barefoot and was like wow. This book is like that video. It will take your breath away. Imagine what resources, organization and a shift in political structures could do to change the lives, to improve lives in black and brown communities on a micro and macro level. The raw talent is typically there, it's just that opportunity that isn't most times - and why? You know why.
A New York Times report states that Black Lives Matter is the largest movement in US history. They have no central leader. I think that it's important to have no central leader in these times because we've seen how the U.S. kills all leaders for the liberation of black lives to put us in our place. I say us, because Canada has this same problem as well, Indigenous and Black populations are being killed at rates that would be inconceivable in white populations. Similarly, other nations have this problem, the United Kingdom, South Africa, etc. Anti-black sentiment is not unheard of internationally. Colonial violence, theft and imperialism have left wastelands of various communities and nations forcing people to act in ways that those same forces then deem deplorable. Imagine if those communities and nations were armed in areas that are generally ignored politically and socially? Areas left to disintegrate while being withheld the necessities for life and prosperity. What could and will happen to surrounding communities when marginalized communities are pushed to the edge? This is why folks are so fucking scared at the moment. We've all heard stupid talk about individualism. We've all heard "why am I being held responsible for the ways of my ancestors?" We've seen the "I apologize" videos. That's why they're scared at this moment and you see large corporations trying to move themselves to the other side of history. The prospects of losing the black dollar, crippling local economies and driving American businesses to ruin loom large. It's all in here. Discussions of communities of colour coming together to overthrow the brutal hands they've been dealt, while non-black and non-poc communities benefit from the structures left behind from their forefathers, built upon the backs of the people they want to "apologize" to, without actually paying for anything. It's only a matter of time before the world rights itself. All debts must be paid, no matter how much time passes. There were dinosaurs here once. The world is round after all. We should work toward repayment civilly, we would hope. This book doesn't say shit about anything named civility tho.
This book reflects so much about communities that are withheld the basics, and what would happen if they were to come together for revolt. I do believe we are in this space at this very moment in time. Will we get farther than the Panthers, especially with the buy-in of our allies and friends? There's a possibility.
This is the kind of book that will reveal more and more and more to you the more you sit and think about it. It's also the kind of book that will change and shape-shift every single time you read it to become more and more powerful. Touching this text, I can feel the power emanating from it's work. Sam Greenlee offered up something powerful and poetic. I'm actually surprised that my adult life is the first time I've heard about this book scrolling around.. it's crazy to me. It scared me at points too, how many of us will have to perish for liberation against our own countries. How many of us have already perished in vain and have struggled and are still struggling against state violence, Babylonian constructs such as the police. Couple this book with a recent watching of Da 5 Bloods and you really feel like -- it's too grim to discuss. Apparently there's also a film of this novel... maybe one day - if I can, I might watch it, but these are definitely activating materials. I feel like it's inspired me and crystallized my vision as a social worker regarding the type of work I want to engage in, in my community.
This is definitely a book I'm going to return to in the future.
August 17, 2017
The Spook Who Sat by the Door tells the story of Dan Freeman, an intelligent and 'naturally athletic' man from the ghetto who becomes the first black CIA agent, then resigns and returns home to Chicago to work with what would now be called 'at risk' youth. To his white bosses and funders, he appears to be 'tame' and eager to please; meanwhile, he is actually training street gangs to become a revolutionary insurgency, which launches during race riots near the end of the book. As a middle class white male, born the month the book was published, I'm not in the target audience for this book; but it was listed in Sacred Fire The Qbr 100 Essential Black Books, and I'd never heard of it and it sounded interesting.
As a work of art, the book suffers some of the same flaws as such other ideological novels as Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The writing entirely lacks nuance; the villains are cardboard cutouts. In Spook, every time a white character has a chance to say something obtuse, racist, and patronizing, he does. With one exception, black characters who have a view about race and racism that differs from Freeman's are made to look pathetic as well. Meanwhile, the hero is a virtual superman, brighter, more skilled, stronger, and a better lover than any of his opponents or rivals. That's not necessarily uncommon in the thriller genre, but it does work against any claim the book makes to depict the world as it is. At the same time, the bitter satire against whites (both overtly racist white supremacists and white liberals) and the scathing depictions of bourgeois blacks are hard to forget.
As a historical artifact, the book is very much of its time and place. Its casual sexism is appalling. There are few female characters. Joy, the upwardly mobile young love of Freeman, is presented as shallow, unfaithful to her husband, and generally unworthy of respect; and yet Freeman sleeps her with on an ongoing basis. The other major female character is a sex worker - all sex workers in this book are routinely called 'whores' - who Freeman hires regularly and teaches to respect her own beauty by showing her a picture of a 'Queen of Dahomey'. The book isn't exactly homophobic, but it doesn't really grasp sexual orientation: Freeman is presented as such a skilled and respectful lover that the sex worker, although she's lesbian and in a relationship, lies to her partner to spend a weekend with him. The hollowness of the sexual relationships is revealing. At a critical juncture, Freeman lectures a young revolutionary about how it isn't meaningful to hate white people; it's essential to love black identity. That commitment to an abstract idea doesn't leave any room for a deep, intimate commitment to one other person, and it's part of what feels ultimately false - or, alternatively, deeply warped - about Freeman's worldview. In a way, the built-in misogyny coupled with a self-destructive ideological commitment reminded me of another revolutionary fantasy, Edward Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang.
The book was published during the Vietnam War, following a wave of nations declaring independence around the world, and following the disastrous riots and political implosion of the Democratic party in 1968. To read it now, though, is to recall the civil wars in Lebanon; ethnic cleansing in the Balkans in the 1990s; the Rwandan genocide and ongoing chaos in the Congo; the slide of Syria into anarchy over the last two years. That international view is appropriate; author Greenlee wrote the book after leaving the US Foreign Service and living for several years in Greece. In 1969, the links between American imperialism abroad and American racism at home were obvious, and, in one of the few passages offering a theoretical explanation of Freeman's strategy, Greenlee writes, "We don't have to win; what we have to do is get down to the nitty-gritty and force whitey to choose between the two things he seems to dig more than anything else: [messing] with us and playing Big Daddy to the world."[112]. But it's much harder to see today how racial or ethnic insurgency ends in anything other than lasting bitterness, recurring violence, and the destruction of space for civil society to exist. To be fair, it may not have been clear in 1969 either; the novel ends with race war in progress across the nation, but no real indication of how it will end.
Ultimately, because of that indeterminacy, I think it's a mistake to call this a template for revolution. It's much more a projection of the experience of a particular kind of 'passing' - not, in this case, pretending to be white when one is black, but pretending to be fully invested in and committed to the success of the American Experiment, when one is also acutely conscious of deep historical and ongoing racial injustice, and of the likelihood that however much it changes, it won't change fast or far enough. Of course it is possible to feel both - loyalty and searing anger. But for an author or reader who is carrying a heavy load of accumulated rage, Spook offers the fantasy that one can rise above and control that antinomy - can wear loyalty as a mask while planning the system's immolation. For anyone who has ever felt pulled in two directions - black or otherwise - such a fantasy has temporary power, and some value as a spur towards greater self-understanding.
As a work of art, the book suffers some of the same flaws as such other ideological novels as Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The writing entirely lacks nuance; the villains are cardboard cutouts. In Spook, every time a white character has a chance to say something obtuse, racist, and patronizing, he does. With one exception, black characters who have a view about race and racism that differs from Freeman's are made to look pathetic as well. Meanwhile, the hero is a virtual superman, brighter, more skilled, stronger, and a better lover than any of his opponents or rivals. That's not necessarily uncommon in the thriller genre, but it does work against any claim the book makes to depict the world as it is. At the same time, the bitter satire against whites (both overtly racist white supremacists and white liberals) and the scathing depictions of bourgeois blacks are hard to forget.
As a historical artifact, the book is very much of its time and place. Its casual sexism is appalling. There are few female characters. Joy, the upwardly mobile young love of Freeman, is presented as shallow, unfaithful to her husband, and generally unworthy of respect; and yet Freeman sleeps her with on an ongoing basis. The other major female character is a sex worker - all sex workers in this book are routinely called 'whores' - who Freeman hires regularly and teaches to respect her own beauty by showing her a picture of a 'Queen of Dahomey'. The book isn't exactly homophobic, but it doesn't really grasp sexual orientation: Freeman is presented as such a skilled and respectful lover that the sex worker, although she's lesbian and in a relationship, lies to her partner to spend a weekend with him. The hollowness of the sexual relationships is revealing. At a critical juncture, Freeman lectures a young revolutionary about how it isn't meaningful to hate white people; it's essential to love black identity. That commitment to an abstract idea doesn't leave any room for a deep, intimate commitment to one other person, and it's part of what feels ultimately false - or, alternatively, deeply warped - about Freeman's worldview. In a way, the built-in misogyny coupled with a self-destructive ideological commitment reminded me of another revolutionary fantasy, Edward Abbey's Monkey Wrench Gang.
The book was published during the Vietnam War, following a wave of nations declaring independence around the world, and following the disastrous riots and political implosion of the Democratic party in 1968. To read it now, though, is to recall the civil wars in Lebanon; ethnic cleansing in the Balkans in the 1990s; the Rwandan genocide and ongoing chaos in the Congo; the slide of Syria into anarchy over the last two years. That international view is appropriate; author Greenlee wrote the book after leaving the US Foreign Service and living for several years in Greece. In 1969, the links between American imperialism abroad and American racism at home were obvious, and, in one of the few passages offering a theoretical explanation of Freeman's strategy, Greenlee writes, "We don't have to win; what we have to do is get down to the nitty-gritty and force whitey to choose between the two things he seems to dig more than anything else: [messing] with us and playing Big Daddy to the world."[112]. But it's much harder to see today how racial or ethnic insurgency ends in anything other than lasting bitterness, recurring violence, and the destruction of space for civil society to exist. To be fair, it may not have been clear in 1969 either; the novel ends with race war in progress across the nation, but no real indication of how it will end.
Ultimately, because of that indeterminacy, I think it's a mistake to call this a template for revolution. It's much more a projection of the experience of a particular kind of 'passing' - not, in this case, pretending to be white when one is black, but pretending to be fully invested in and committed to the success of the American Experiment, when one is also acutely conscious of deep historical and ongoing racial injustice, and of the likelihood that however much it changes, it won't change fast or far enough. Of course it is possible to feel both - loyalty and searing anger. But for an author or reader who is carrying a heavy load of accumulated rage, Spook offers the fantasy that one can rise above and control that antinomy - can wear loyalty as a mask while planning the system's immolation. For anyone who has ever felt pulled in two directions - black or otherwise - such a fantasy has temporary power, and some value as a spur towards greater self-understanding.
April 10, 2013
Probably one of the best books I have read in so long. from start to finish it was the bomb, and what gets me is that Urban Fiction is hailed as this and that, but I am positive that if they got a hold of THIS book, they'd change their minds quick on what is good or not. But back to the book. this book was published in 1969 by a brother who had similar experiences. Somehow, the book was made into a movie, which I also own and I had watched first before reading the book. anyhow, you have a congressman whose voting numbers is quite low especially in the negro quarters. To boost them up, they come up with a query then expose on the CIA not having negro officers within their ranks and the CIA in turn decide to recruit a set of young men to go through(but make it hard for them NOT to pass it)and the games are on. They truly expected NONE to pass but one young man by the name of Dan Freeman DOES pass it and even pass by those who considers themselves of the "black bourgeois" class since he himself is not. He is an ex marine of the Korean War and is looking for something better but underneath there is a serious agenda of Freeman's and that is to help his fellow brothers's get over on whitey in his own game. Well, Freeman to the surprise of all, is the only one to pass and is in charge of reproduction and copying. Once they realize his value, they move him up the ranks and in a few years retires to return to Chicago and work for a social service agency but underneath, he's training the local ganglords the same techniques in order to overthrow the government. In time, they are ready and things get hairy but I won't divulge more only to say the book truly kept me riveted from start to finish. worth the read.Now, mind you, the talk is 60s black talk and it is dated but worth it's salt just the same.
June 22, 2023
I once read this book for class and fell head over hills for Greenlee's talent for summing up what it means to enact a revolution for change in the African-American community. In our current atmosphere of #BlackLivesMatter, the need to understand the mechanisms of revolting and the tactics that should and should not be used are important.
This book packs a punch in it's blunt use of racial slurs, violence, and intellect. If you are not a mature reader who can look beyond the surface, this book may not be for you. However, if you want to push yourself and your thoughts on the plight of African-Americans in America, you'll definitely need to give this book a try.
This book should definitely be on your #LemonadeSyllabus/#RootsSyllabus.
This book packs a punch in it's blunt use of racial slurs, violence, and intellect. If you are not a mature reader who can look beyond the surface, this book may not be for you. However, if you want to push yourself and your thoughts on the plight of African-Americans in America, you'll definitely need to give this book a try.
This book should definitely be on your #LemonadeSyllabus/#RootsSyllabus.
March 20, 2020
The Spook Who Sat By The Door was made at a time when the author, Sam Greenlee returned to the US after serving in the army and discovering the inner-city rioting in his hometown of Chicago. After all the death and blood shed, what is there to do next? Greenlee’s book was an aggressive way to respond to oppression. Not saying that this is what he truly wanted to happen but he was able to tell a story that portrayed a form of courage and a film was produced that is almost identical to the book.
“perhaps you’re right. I guess it’s not brains we’re looking for in him anyway”. Greenlee tells the story of the first Black CIA Operative who is more than meets the eye. Dan Freeman is a man of patience who slowly plants seeds, learns under white men, and takes what he’s learned and passes it along to one of the toughest street gangs in chicago, The Cobras.
“Pull yourself up by the bootstraps like the immigrants. These demonstrations and sit-ins stir up needless emotion. Your people must demonstrate a respect for law and order, earn the respect and affection of whites”. Dan Freeman trains the Cobras to become the Freedom Fighters and who they are is completely unknown. They have the everyone fooled and slowly start to plan for a war. They wait for the right time and happens when a riot is produced after a cop kills an innocent Black teenager. Freeman slowly builds an army that spreads to nurses, cops, different cities through the USA and ends with Freeman ordering “Condition Red”. An order that activates guerilla attack-team in 12 cities through the US.
“perhaps you’re right. I guess it’s not brains we’re looking for in him anyway”. Greenlee tells the story of the first Black CIA Operative who is more than meets the eye. Dan Freeman is a man of patience who slowly plants seeds, learns under white men, and takes what he’s learned and passes it along to one of the toughest street gangs in chicago, The Cobras.
“Pull yourself up by the bootstraps like the immigrants. These demonstrations and sit-ins stir up needless emotion. Your people must demonstrate a respect for law and order, earn the respect and affection of whites”. Dan Freeman trains the Cobras to become the Freedom Fighters and who they are is completely unknown. They have the everyone fooled and slowly start to plan for a war. They wait for the right time and happens when a riot is produced after a cop kills an innocent Black teenager. Freeman slowly builds an army that spreads to nurses, cops, different cities through the USA and ends with Freeman ordering “Condition Red”. An order that activates guerilla attack-team in 12 cities through the US.
January 29, 2009
the revolution will not be televised.
June 1, 2021
Have I been living under a rock??? Like, why haven’t I read this book before?? Wow. This book is mind-blowing and deeply engaging all at the same time. I was initially interested in this book after a number of friends had nothing but great things to say for this book. I prioritized it this year after I made my reading challenge this year. This book was published before I was born, and it immediately put me into a mindframe like I was talking to my dad about ‘back in the day.’ There are some late 60’s/70’s vibe to it in regards to the vernacular used in the dialogues between some characters. I feel like I’ve just heard a story from my dad and his brothers, and it was an amazing experience to live in and read about in this racial climate we have going on right now.
This book has undertones of Black Panthers, Garveyites, Martin vs. Malcolm approach to violence, Black bourgeoise, Vietnam era, and NAACP all rolled together.
This book satiricalizes some ideals from the Civil Rights era, and the continued fight towards equality of Black Americans.
Major themes in this book discuss:
- Capitalism
- Colonial theft
- Imperialism
- Socialism
- Anti-Black sentiment
- Integration
Last year, I read a book titled, N*gga Theory, that kind of relates to this book, but in a nonfictional way. However, the premise is that Black people are not a monolith, we are victims of white supremacy, and the continued oppression to our people contributes to the demise of our communities and population. The Spook Who Sat by the Door, spins a similar view of the actual problems the Black community face on a daily basis and satiricalizes it in such a brilliant way that you cannot ignore the messages and gems that are left in its wake. The truth is being shared here in 100% authenticity, in between the satirical fiction that laces this book. Although for 1969, this was satire, in 2021, well, this could definitely be a possibility. It’s definitely not far from the truth.
Sam Greenlee shares the frustrations Black people have with the government, and with white supremacy. The constant need for Black people to have to appease ‘the white man’ or stay true to self and struggle. The never-ending terrorism from police brutality. The constant harassment in corporate America from macro/micro-aggressions. While Greenlee builds tension and mystery in this book, it poses as a metaphor as to how the pressure is building up in our community, sending us closer and closer to a boiling point. Ready to strike back and put pressure on systems that continue to create and perpetuate systemic racism.
“I dig being Black and the only thing I don’t dig about being Black is white folks messing with me.”
This book is timely and a classic. Unfortunately, this book is still relevant and the reader can truly understand the past as it relates to our current present day. Although some progress has been made, it is clear that we are still far away from our ultimate goal. In our current racial posture, and with Black Lives Matter as our emerging national movement, this book is a great compliment to ponder on while you think about the present day racial tension that still exists.
This book will be on my most recommended book list from now on. Great read. 5 stars.
This book has undertones of Black Panthers, Garveyites, Martin vs. Malcolm approach to violence, Black bourgeoise, Vietnam era, and NAACP all rolled together.
This book satiricalizes some ideals from the Civil Rights era, and the continued fight towards equality of Black Americans.
Major themes in this book discuss:
- Capitalism
- Colonial theft
- Imperialism
- Socialism
- Anti-Black sentiment
- Integration
Last year, I read a book titled, N*gga Theory, that kind of relates to this book, but in a nonfictional way. However, the premise is that Black people are not a monolith, we are victims of white supremacy, and the continued oppression to our people contributes to the demise of our communities and population. The Spook Who Sat by the Door, spins a similar view of the actual problems the Black community face on a daily basis and satiricalizes it in such a brilliant way that you cannot ignore the messages and gems that are left in its wake. The truth is being shared here in 100% authenticity, in between the satirical fiction that laces this book. Although for 1969, this was satire, in 2021, well, this could definitely be a possibility. It’s definitely not far from the truth.
Sam Greenlee shares the frustrations Black people have with the government, and with white supremacy. The constant need for Black people to have to appease ‘the white man’ or stay true to self and struggle. The never-ending terrorism from police brutality. The constant harassment in corporate America from macro/micro-aggressions. While Greenlee builds tension and mystery in this book, it poses as a metaphor as to how the pressure is building up in our community, sending us closer and closer to a boiling point. Ready to strike back and put pressure on systems that continue to create and perpetuate systemic racism.
“I dig being Black and the only thing I don’t dig about being Black is white folks messing with me.”
This book is timely and a classic. Unfortunately, this book is still relevant and the reader can truly understand the past as it relates to our current present day. Although some progress has been made, it is clear that we are still far away from our ultimate goal. In our current racial posture, and with Black Lives Matter as our emerging national movement, this book is a great compliment to ponder on while you think about the present day racial tension that still exists.
This book will be on my most recommended book list from now on. Great read. 5 stars.
November 16, 2025
Genuinely subversive academic material disguised as pulp fiction for the blaxploitation set. If I need to clarify the subversive bona fides of blaxploitation—the inherent contradiction of white publishers and film producers bankrolling the very same dogwhistles to be employed against their tired Honky Supper Club horseshit—then our ground is so uncommon as to be different terrains altogether. I mean, you either dig a book with a character named ‘Pussyhead,’ or you’re off the bus.
January 4, 2019
I read this book so that I could watch the movie in good faith. I was not expecting much on account of I had never heard of this book outside of Twitter. I did not get the pleasure to read this for school or anything (that would have been amazing). Nevertheless, upon reading just a few pages of this book I realized that I had been missing out! This book isn't simply chronicling a Black man's journey in the CIA or anything like that. It's not simply about being "the only one". In this book contain valid critiques and condemnations capitalism, bourgeois/middle class aspirations, Black sell outs, reformism, Black cops and more. The point of the view of the protagonist - the spook - is endearingly cynical and ambitious. He has one mission and one mission only. He is never confused about it throughout the book. I admired that the theme remained consistent and steadfast. I also admired that the book did not attempt to negate or sabotage the cause of Black rebellion (or revolution, depending on your taste) by prioritizing some pithy lesson about the "costs" of justice. The book is also fast paced and entertaining. It takes you with the narrator as he trains and ultimately makes a home on the South Side of Chicago where he can execute the plan. More than this, however, the text I think is a commentary on what it means to truly be down for a cause, to sacrifice anything and even better, to believe fully that the cause will actually work. A part of me is shocked that a work of fiction exists like this but then again, I am not. My people are brilliant!
February 15, 2023
This book has been in my periphery for years now but I never took the time to read it. Now I'm kicking myself for letting it gather dust on my bookcase. The Spook Who Sat by the Door should be part of the African American literary canon but it's seldom talked about, perhaps because of decades of respectability politics that restricted so many texts. I'm not sure. But reading this book just a few years after the uprising of 2020, in the midst of our culture's reckoning with systemic racism, propels it off the sidelines and into the center of these debates. This book is a rousing, pro-Black polemic that smolders with late 1960s Black glamour while making in-your-face comments on the Black Power movement, white supremacy, tokenism, guerilla warfare, organized rebellion, and a host of other powerful issues.
I don't want to be reductive and call this a novelized Blaxploitation film, even though it was adapted into a film in 1973, but it definitely contains the seeds for that film genre. The novel's combustible militancy, propagated by its main character, captures the rebellion of the late 1960s and early 1970s that thrummed in Chicago and many other cities. Freeman, the main character, plays his role to perfection, managing to surreptitiously organize Chicago's Black gangs without the CIA knowing anything about his double life. Sam Greenlee's writing is taut yet quite detailed, especially his descriptions of the city and its weather, which plays a critical role in the book. If ever a book could serve as a blueprint for ways to take down the system it's this one.
I don't want to be reductive and call this a novelized Blaxploitation film, even though it was adapted into a film in 1973, but it definitely contains the seeds for that film genre. The novel's combustible militancy, propagated by its main character, captures the rebellion of the late 1960s and early 1970s that thrummed in Chicago and many other cities. Freeman, the main character, plays his role to perfection, managing to surreptitiously organize Chicago's Black gangs without the CIA knowing anything about his double life. Sam Greenlee's writing is taut yet quite detailed, especially his descriptions of the city and its weather, which plays a critical role in the book. If ever a book could serve as a blueprint for ways to take down the system it's this one.
June 10, 2025
Aquest llibre és BONÍSSIM! Em va tenir completament absorta, no podia parar de llegir. I s'ha convertit en un d'aquests llibres que no em cansaré de recomanar mai!
La història comença amb un governador estatunidenc que ha perdut la simpatia i el vot negre i l'única manera que té d'assegurar-se de tornar a sortir escollit és recuperar-lo, així que els seus assessors decideixen posar fil a l'agulla i detecten que en els organismes governamentals, com és la CIA, no hi ha agents negres, així que decideixen tirar cap aquí i acusar l'agència d'intel·ligència de segregació racial. Arribats a aquest punt, i amb la intenció d'apaivagar el conflicte, la CIA decideix donar una oportunitat a aquesta part de la població, però no serà fàcil, hauran de passar una escola de formació i no tenen la intenció de posar-los-ho gens fàcil. És més, creuen que cap dels aspirants ho aconseguirà. Però s'equivoquen.
En Dan Freeman ho aconsegueix, però lluny de ser tractat com un agent més, amb les seves missions i feina de carrer, queda relegat a tasques d'oficina. Omplint la quota racial. En Dan no es queixa i al llarg dels anys va fent i, gràcies a la seva capacitat d'observació, es va empatant de tots els mecanismes que empra la CIA amb la finalitat d'organitzar un moviment als guetos que ho dinamiti tot.
En definitiva, una sàtira brillant amb un rerefons polític i social molt crític cap a la hipocresia de les classes dirigents i que crítica un sistema tan racista com és el dels Estats Units.
La història comença amb un governador estatunidenc que ha perdut la simpatia i el vot negre i l'única manera que té d'assegurar-se de tornar a sortir escollit és recuperar-lo, així que els seus assessors decideixen posar fil a l'agulla i detecten que en els organismes governamentals, com és la CIA, no hi ha agents negres, així que decideixen tirar cap aquí i acusar l'agència d'intel·ligència de segregació racial. Arribats a aquest punt, i amb la intenció d'apaivagar el conflicte, la CIA decideix donar una oportunitat a aquesta part de la població, però no serà fàcil, hauran de passar una escola de formació i no tenen la intenció de posar-los-ho gens fàcil. És més, creuen que cap dels aspirants ho aconseguirà. Però s'equivoquen.
En Dan Freeman ho aconsegueix, però lluny de ser tractat com un agent més, amb les seves missions i feina de carrer, queda relegat a tasques d'oficina. Omplint la quota racial. En Dan no es queixa i al llarg dels anys va fent i, gràcies a la seva capacitat d'observació, es va empatant de tots els mecanismes que empra la CIA amb la finalitat d'organitzar un moviment als guetos que ho dinamiti tot.
En definitiva, una sàtira brillant amb un rerefons polític i social molt crític cap a la hipocresia de les classes dirigents i que crítica un sistema tan racista com és el dels Estats Units.
May 28, 2019
This book is not a book that I would reach for on my own. At the pressing of a friend who was eager to get my take on the book, I moved it to the top of my list and finished it.
This is the story of an African- American male who on the surface to whites, would be viewed as incompetent, a threat, and dangerous- but at the same time, good enough to serve their purpose. To blacks, he is part of the "elite, educated and status driven" class that try to behave like whites and forget where they come from".
Freeman knows his history, and knows the culture that he is a part of, and the system that wants to delegate him to an area and keep him there. But, Freeman has something to prove. He will use his knowledge and resources to promote how "smart" blacks are and train young men to facilitate the process, even if it means life or death.
Freeman is very observant and calculated in his timing and movements and it is all to prove one point- that you can never underestimate the blacks.
I have to leave my description basic because I don't want to give this little book away. It never stalled or dragged on...it kept me engaged. Though I predicated a particular ending, Greenlee gave me something bigger...something worth thinking about.
I gave this book four stars because I purchased and read the Kindle version which had many typos and missing portions. This made it difficult to read. Other than that, I was impressed with the way Greenlee wrote the book and the manner in which it progressed. Often times, you see growth in your main characters, in this case, there was growth for related characters and the characters that had leadership positions were stripped. Greenlee is not very descriptive, but the dialogue in the scenes paint pictures. There is some violence in this book and I did wonder why he chose this approach to make a point, but I will leave that to the reader.
I would recommend this book for anyone's "to read" list.
This is the story of an African- American male who on the surface to whites, would be viewed as incompetent, a threat, and dangerous- but at the same time, good enough to serve their purpose. To blacks, he is part of the "elite, educated and status driven" class that try to behave like whites and forget where they come from".
Freeman knows his history, and knows the culture that he is a part of, and the system that wants to delegate him to an area and keep him there. But, Freeman has something to prove. He will use his knowledge and resources to promote how "smart" blacks are and train young men to facilitate the process, even if it means life or death.
Freeman is very observant and calculated in his timing and movements and it is all to prove one point- that you can never underestimate the blacks.
I have to leave my description basic because I don't want to give this little book away. It never stalled or dragged on...it kept me engaged. Though I predicated a particular ending, Greenlee gave me something bigger...something worth thinking about.
I gave this book four stars because I purchased and read the Kindle version which had many typos and missing portions. This made it difficult to read. Other than that, I was impressed with the way Greenlee wrote the book and the manner in which it progressed. Often times, you see growth in your main characters, in this case, there was growth for related characters and the characters that had leadership positions were stripped. Greenlee is not very descriptive, but the dialogue in the scenes paint pictures. There is some violence in this book and I did wonder why he chose this approach to make a point, but I will leave that to the reader.
I would recommend this book for anyone's "to read" list.
May 25, 2022
Oh, my.... that was .... different and unnerving (and, more often than not, deeply disturbing) and well done and compelling and thought-provoking, etc.
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but, once I started it, I couldn't put it down.
I've had this on my list for a while, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I'm confident that I wouldn't have appreciated it when it came out (50+ years ago), but I found it (depressingly) timely and relevant and well worth reading in 2022.
Sure, the caricatures are a bit over the top, but on that score the author is consistent in drawing everyone to over-the-top extremes (good or bad, sympathetic or unsympathetic, strong or weak, ... or, ultimately, black or white).
If anyone has recommended this to you in the past, thank them ... and read it. It's a quick read (assuming you've got the stomach for it).
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but, once I started it, I couldn't put it down.
I've had this on my list for a while, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I'm confident that I wouldn't have appreciated it when it came out (50+ years ago), but I found it (depressingly) timely and relevant and well worth reading in 2022.
Sure, the caricatures are a bit over the top, but on that score the author is consistent in drawing everyone to over-the-top extremes (good or bad, sympathetic or unsympathetic, strong or weak, ... or, ultimately, black or white).
If anyone has recommended this to you in the past, thank them ... and read it. It's a quick read (assuming you've got the stomach for it).
Read
August 8, 2022At first, I thought "Spook" was going to be a broad satire of racism in America in the 60's, using caricatures as characters. But then I realized it's only a broad satire for its enemies: the white liberal do-gooders, bourgeoisie black fakers and political hacks who remain cartoons throughout. The rest is far-fetched blue prints for Armageddon.
The protagonist is a familiar character: the cold, calculating, superiority-driven mastermind who's an expert in martial arts, full of sexual virility, and a loner but a leader when push comes to shove: in today's parlance, a one-man sleeper cell. He reminded me immediately of Ferric Jagger of Norman Spinrad's the Iron Dream, and I could easily imagine an alternate dimension blurb for this book:
"Let science fiction virtuoso Malcolm X transport you to a far-future Earth, where only Dan Freeman stands between the remnants of true black humanity and annihilation at the hands of the totally evil Whiteys and the mindless hordes they completely control."
In the final analysis, and as action and violence escalated, "Spook" became indistinguishable from a million right-wing survivalist pulps I've read over the years.
Yet Spook is better than most of those: it can be well written ("wall-to-wall drags with split-level minds, control color TV souls and credit-card hearts," "another black baby with no future in the land of milk and honey, replete with goodies in white plastic cases for god's own children with white plastic faces,") even though style is used only as a means of propaganda, never to be style itself. The book is likewise for the most part humorless, and casually sexist. But the first half, before it becomes survivalist porn, seems deeply indebted to "Invisible Man," and the protagonist, as he goes about his Machiavellian business, refers to the many masks he must wear to conceal his true identity and motives in "ofay's" world. There is a self-conscious at work in him often lacking in revenge-fantasy novels, as he seems at times to see what he's doing as bad, but seeing it as the only way, the Final Solution. He's an ends justify the means, egg/omelet sort of guy, which I've never been, believing more in individual responsibility than groupthink, so everything he tries to accomplish by the way he tries to accomplish it basically disgusts me.
(Rant on)
I never can understand why one oppressed people oppressing another group of people sounds like a smart move, or why scapegoating an entire group of people for evil done isn't seen as blatantly idiotic. I could tell Freeman my grandparents were potato-pickers in Ireland and besides what did I ever do to you? but he would answer, "you were born, honky," and I would say "well fuck you then, asshole," and then we'd kill each other and that would be the end of that (only in Freeman's world I wouldn't be able to kill him because I'm white). I guess the point of race riots as used in "Spook" is to show righteous fury, and for those ignored to be ignored no more. But it still seems like an impotent and futile gesture, like a man punching himself in the nuts, and it effects people who live with you who want nothing/have nothing to do with it. And when you escalate into a full-on war and use Us vs. Them tactics you force people to pick sides they don't want and shouldn't have to pick in the first place. Any time you judge someone for how YOU think they should live THEIR lives, and then create a one-dimensional boogieman out of them, in fact any time you treat a person as a group or type and not as a person is a bad scene as far as I'm concerned, and it's one of the main reasons I hate politics, black, white, left or right.
(Rant off)
But also in general I just can't stand "satires" or novels in general where the antagonist is shown no respect. "Whitey" here is shown no respect, and neither are his "Uncle Tom" minions, or the "liberal honkeys" that try to integrate "n**gers," but only so far (somewhere along the way integration became affirmative action?). You'd think a race as stupid, lazy and arrogant as the whites described here wouldn't be able shit straight, let alone enslave anyone for 300 years.
Another major problem I had with the novel concerns its major plot point: I know as much about black gangs in the 60's as I do about living in ghettos, but if the movie The Warriors taught me anything it's the tallest nail gets the hammer. I can't believe for a minute a stranger could walk in and take a gang over without some resistance, or that there wouldn't be members in the gang willing to snitch on his plans for some cash. Also, where's the other "race gangs" during the race riots/mass murdering? Where's the Mob? I don't think the notoriously racist Mob would let a small-time black gang ruin their business any more than I think the USA government would let them ruin theirs. Once again, this novel seems to grossly underestimate the oppressing powers of the Man.
But all that being said, "Spook" had the perfect alchemy of action and self-righteous anger to make it extremely readable. And Len Deighton is right on the back when he says, "Will cause many readers great annoyance- and what more can a writer ask than that?" "It's annoying!" doesn't sound like the greatest praise you can give a book, but as you can see by how worked up I've gotten, it works for "the Spook Who Sat by the Door."
The protagonist is a familiar character: the cold, calculating, superiority-driven mastermind who's an expert in martial arts, full of sexual virility, and a loner but a leader when push comes to shove: in today's parlance, a one-man sleeper cell. He reminded me immediately of Ferric Jagger of Norman Spinrad's the Iron Dream, and I could easily imagine an alternate dimension blurb for this book:
"Let science fiction virtuoso Malcolm X transport you to a far-future Earth, where only Dan Freeman stands between the remnants of true black humanity and annihilation at the hands of the totally evil Whiteys and the mindless hordes they completely control."
In the final analysis, and as action and violence escalated, "Spook" became indistinguishable from a million right-wing survivalist pulps I've read over the years.
Yet Spook is better than most of those: it can be well written ("wall-to-wall drags with split-level minds, control color TV souls and credit-card hearts," "another black baby with no future in the land of milk and honey, replete with goodies in white plastic cases for god's own children with white plastic faces,") even though style is used only as a means of propaganda, never to be style itself. The book is likewise for the most part humorless, and casually sexist. But the first half, before it becomes survivalist porn, seems deeply indebted to "Invisible Man," and the protagonist, as he goes about his Machiavellian business, refers to the many masks he must wear to conceal his true identity and motives in "ofay's" world. There is a self-conscious at work in him often lacking in revenge-fantasy novels, as he seems at times to see what he's doing as bad, but seeing it as the only way, the Final Solution. He's an ends justify the means, egg/omelet sort of guy, which I've never been, believing more in individual responsibility than groupthink, so everything he tries to accomplish by the way he tries to accomplish it basically disgusts me.
(Rant on)
I never can understand why one oppressed people oppressing another group of people sounds like a smart move, or why scapegoating an entire group of people for evil done isn't seen as blatantly idiotic. I could tell Freeman my grandparents were potato-pickers in Ireland and besides what did I ever do to you? but he would answer, "you were born, honky," and I would say "well fuck you then, asshole," and then we'd kill each other and that would be the end of that (only in Freeman's world I wouldn't be able to kill him because I'm white). I guess the point of race riots as used in "Spook" is to show righteous fury, and for those ignored to be ignored no more. But it still seems like an impotent and futile gesture, like a man punching himself in the nuts, and it effects people who live with you who want nothing/have nothing to do with it. And when you escalate into a full-on war and use Us vs. Them tactics you force people to pick sides they don't want and shouldn't have to pick in the first place. Any time you judge someone for how YOU think they should live THEIR lives, and then create a one-dimensional boogieman out of them, in fact any time you treat a person as a group or type and not as a person is a bad scene as far as I'm concerned, and it's one of the main reasons I hate politics, black, white, left or right.
(Rant off)
But also in general I just can't stand "satires" or novels in general where the antagonist is shown no respect. "Whitey" here is shown no respect, and neither are his "Uncle Tom" minions, or the "liberal honkeys" that try to integrate "n**gers," but only so far (somewhere along the way integration became affirmative action?). You'd think a race as stupid, lazy and arrogant as the whites described here wouldn't be able shit straight, let alone enslave anyone for 300 years.
Another major problem I had with the novel concerns its major plot point: I know as much about black gangs in the 60's as I do about living in ghettos, but if the movie The Warriors taught me anything it's the tallest nail gets the hammer. I can't believe for a minute a stranger could walk in and take a gang over without some resistance, or that there wouldn't be members in the gang willing to snitch on his plans for some cash. Also, where's the other "race gangs" during the race riots/mass murdering? Where's the Mob? I don't think the notoriously racist Mob would let a small-time black gang ruin their business any more than I think the USA government would let them ruin theirs. Once again, this novel seems to grossly underestimate the oppressing powers of the Man.
But all that being said, "Spook" had the perfect alchemy of action and self-righteous anger to make it extremely readable. And Len Deighton is right on the back when he says, "Will cause many readers great annoyance- and what more can a writer ask than that?" "It's annoying!" doesn't sound like the greatest praise you can give a book, but as you can see by how worked up I've gotten, it works for "the Spook Who Sat by the Door."
April 5, 2021
This was an extremely hard book to track down and I was the least excited about reading it as a part of the crash course in the history of Black SFF challenge I am undertaking this year. It just didn’t sound very SFF but rather more political spy thriller which is really not my genre to read. I was very wrong.
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This book does so much and I can’t possibly give a synopsis that does it justice but here we go: After a Senator raises a question regarding the hiring practices of the CIA (not that he actually cares, he just needed to get the voting numbers up in the Black demographic), the CIA initiates a hiring program for Black men that they are confident that none of the recruits will pass, our main character does. He is undercover in his own life, playing the long game which includes the training and access that the CIA can provide. Ironic jokes are made by the author that while the CIA came to terms that he passed the tests, he would never have the intelligence to become undercover agent meanwhile the CIA themselves are fooled when they dig into Dan Freeman’s personal life.
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When Dan Freeman quits, he goes back to his life in Chicago to put the second part of his plan into action, mobilising the street gangs, also using his connections and image as a cover.
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I picked up on many instances of microaggressions as well as commentary on some bigger issues such as street gangs and the police to name a few. The dry sense of humour suited the tone and I have to say this is one of the smartest books I have ever read. It has it’s flaws, one being an absence of women having a role other than fulfilling the sexual needs of a man but overall, I would recommend it.
5 stars.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This book does so much and I can’t possibly give a synopsis that does it justice but here we go: After a Senator raises a question regarding the hiring practices of the CIA (not that he actually cares, he just needed to get the voting numbers up in the Black demographic), the CIA initiates a hiring program for Black men that they are confident that none of the recruits will pass, our main character does. He is undercover in his own life, playing the long game which includes the training and access that the CIA can provide. Ironic jokes are made by the author that while the CIA came to terms that he passed the tests, he would never have the intelligence to become undercover agent meanwhile the CIA themselves are fooled when they dig into Dan Freeman’s personal life.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
When Dan Freeman quits, he goes back to his life in Chicago to put the second part of his plan into action, mobilising the street gangs, also using his connections and image as a cover.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I picked up on many instances of microaggressions as well as commentary on some bigger issues such as street gangs and the police to name a few. The dry sense of humour suited the tone and I have to say this is one of the smartest books I have ever read. It has it’s flaws, one being an absence of women having a role other than fulfilling the sexual needs of a man but overall, I would recommend it.
5 stars.
April 19, 2025
Satire: The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
The Spook Who Sat By the Door is the epitome of satire, because the author ridicules the government and society through the use of ridiculous humor. He tries to shame both institutions into improvement by using his main character Dan Freeman’s infiltration of the CIA (back during a time when Blacks were systemically barred from such employment) to later utilize his newfound skills to create an uprising. He is a man hell bent on disrupting long held institutions that constantly bring down Blacks.
It’s scary to me how much of a broken record racial equality has become. Nothing has changed much since the inception of race relations in this country: Blacks are still trailing their white counterparts in every possible way due to the inherent systemic racism found in each and every human endeavor.
Unfortunately, though I really enjoyed this book, I don’t foresee much changing.
The Spook Who Sat By the Door is the epitome of satire, because the author ridicules the government and society through the use of ridiculous humor. He tries to shame both institutions into improvement by using his main character Dan Freeman’s infiltration of the CIA (back during a time when Blacks were systemically barred from such employment) to later utilize his newfound skills to create an uprising. He is a man hell bent on disrupting long held institutions that constantly bring down Blacks.
It’s scary to me how much of a broken record racial equality has become. Nothing has changed much since the inception of race relations in this country: Blacks are still trailing their white counterparts in every possible way due to the inherent systemic racism found in each and every human endeavor.
Unfortunately, though I really enjoyed this book, I don’t foresee much changing.
June 15, 2021
Great book and really offered and in some ways confirmed a lot of prenotions about the black struggle.
The book is about a young ex military man who gets selected to work for the CIA as a token black employee. Essentially to show that the CIA is diversifying. Instead of just enjoying the position and the perks that come with it, Dan(his name), tries to absorb all the knowledge he can on how the CIA works.
He literally sits by the door while working for the General. Eventually, he goes back to the hood and starts a plan of organized revolt. He recruits the toughest neighborhood gang to implement his plan.
He trains and educates them and eventually he puts his plan in space and takes the streets of Chicago hostage, in a standoff with the national guard.
He is still working for the neighborhood program, while leading the revolution on the streets, without the knowledge of the government.
It is a book that helped answer the question of Reformation vs Revoltuion.
It looked at the black population as conquered people and thus under occupation rather than as discriminated citizens.
Great book that makes you ask the question, Reformation vs Revolution
The book is about a young ex military man who gets selected to work for the CIA as a token black employee. Essentially to show that the CIA is diversifying. Instead of just enjoying the position and the perks that come with it, Dan(his name), tries to absorb all the knowledge he can on how the CIA works.
He literally sits by the door while working for the General. Eventually, he goes back to the hood and starts a plan of organized revolt. He recruits the toughest neighborhood gang to implement his plan.
He trains and educates them and eventually he puts his plan in space and takes the streets of Chicago hostage, in a standoff with the national guard.
He is still working for the neighborhood program, while leading the revolution on the streets, without the knowledge of the government.
It is a book that helped answer the question of Reformation vs Revoltuion.
It looked at the black population as conquered people and thus under occupation rather than as discriminated citizens.
Great book that makes you ask the question, Reformation vs Revolution
November 16, 2025
James Bond in black face? A black militant version of THE TURNER DIARIES? Take your pick. Our hero, Dan Freeman, is the CIA's token Black agent, or so he would have his bosses think. He leads quite the extraordinary nightlife. Sam Greenlee once worked for the United States Information Agency, a soft power tool of the government to sell the U.S. way of life abroad. This gave him the idea for THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR. You say you stand for equality? Recruit a Black man into the CIA and watch what happens. Sure, he'll Steppin Fetchit and Uncle Tom all day, but at night, he's got something dangerous up his sleeve. When Black urban America goes up in flames in the Sixties Dan is there to lend the militants a helping hand. After all, he was trained by experts in espionage, sabotage and running double agents. The writing is crisp and goofball at the same time. Freeman's actions seem to parody themselves in Bondish over-the-top scenes of sex and mayhem. This is the kind of book you will want to read in one sitting.
July 6, 2021
"You come on like Time magazine, man. The conditions they force us into cause the crime, then they use the crime to justify the conditions." I cannot be more disappointed that a book written in 1969 about systemic racism is still so relevant today, but it is none the less a wonderful book. I think the most poignant conversation occured between the main character, Freeman, and Dawson, a Black police officer and friend, on the responsibility of Black people in our community that feel they've "made it".
This is a great satire. The take downs and the shade! Greenlee had me laughing out loud at the foolery. There's commentary on respectability, the use of violence, the Black middle class, Uncle Toms, colorism, and so much more. Heavy topics, but done so well through the fruition of Freeman's plans for Black freedom. His commitment to the persona of "token" shouldn't be underestimated; it made him the best spook the CIA (unknowingly) ever had.
This is a great satire. The take downs and the shade! Greenlee had me laughing out loud at the foolery. There's commentary on respectability, the use of violence, the Black middle class, Uncle Toms, colorism, and so much more. Heavy topics, but done so well through the fruition of Freeman's plans for Black freedom. His commitment to the persona of "token" shouldn't be underestimated; it made him the best spook the CIA (unknowingly) ever had.
January 4, 2025
“Who said anything about winning? We don’t have to win; what we have to do is get down to the nitty-gritty and force whitey to choose between the two things he seems to dig more than anything else: fucking with us and playing Big Daddy to the world.”
Easily one of my top 5 favorite books of all time. What a brave and imaginative work of fiction.
Easily one of my top 5 favorite books of all time. What a brave and imaginative work of fiction.
August 20, 2023
I had to dock a star for how abysmally gender and sexuality are treated in this. This is true of tons of older fiction, but it's worse than average here for anything with a radical bent. Black women exist only as sexual conquest, afterthought, or as non existent. They get one sentence in the entire book about their place in the struggle, due to having access to some spaces Black men don't, but he never actually bothers to include them in organizing. He even converts a lesbian sex worker to infatuated heterosexual devotion to him with his amazing sexual prowess. A fantasy based on a pretty gnarly system of misogyny in which lesbians are seen as just not meeting the right man yet. In many ways, the Superman characterization of the protagonist works very well in order to critique the system at large, but in regards to Black women it does the opposite.
All of that said, this is a fantastic story otherwise. I'm white but could see clearly how deftly the author explored intercommunity dynamics and disagreements. Anyone marginalized, especially if you've ever been an organizer, will see the complexity of Black struggle and community dialogues portrayed here. It's also just a fun story about folks halting the trauma enacted on one another and instead banding together to strike back against white supremacy. It's really nice to see a narrative this radical (for Black straight men at least) in terms of refusing to rely on the oppressor for salvation while also engaging with the myriad of ways that oppressed people do- often lacking any other options without the kind of organization that occurs in this story.
Other reviewers have said more better, so I'll end my review here. I'm glad to have finally read this as it's been on my list forever.
All of that said, this is a fantastic story otherwise. I'm white but could see clearly how deftly the author explored intercommunity dynamics and disagreements. Anyone marginalized, especially if you've ever been an organizer, will see the complexity of Black struggle and community dialogues portrayed here. It's also just a fun story about folks halting the trauma enacted on one another and instead banding together to strike back against white supremacy. It's really nice to see a narrative this radical (for Black straight men at least) in terms of refusing to rely on the oppressor for salvation while also engaging with the myriad of ways that oppressed people do- often lacking any other options without the kind of organization that occurs in this story.
Other reviewers have said more better, so I'll end my review here. I'm glad to have finally read this as it's been on my list forever.
September 3, 2012
Back in the day, this book was a revelation to me.. it made me proud to be a black women.
September 17, 2008
This was a very interesting book. Definitely made me think. It was one of the first books that climaxed at the end. The closer I got to finishing the book, the more eager I was to find out what the end would be. It was cool that there was a gradual build-up and a lot of storytelling and an insider's p.o.v. What kept me reading was the unique characters, mainly the protagonist. It was really something trying to imagine someone like that, doing those things, and thinking what he did. I believe that's what kept me reading, otherwise, I probably would've gotten tired of the book. About half-way thru, I was really eager to finish the book. It definitely was a good story and just REALLY made me think. And to think, it was written in the 60's and much of what was stated, I believe, is still going on today. I'm not into "black power" so to speak but it was definitely an eye opener to that kind of world/thought - as well as gangs, police, and the government.
Also, it was like Freeman was invincible or something. Which I wasn't sure how much I liked, b/c how realistic is that? To never get caught. To always end up on top. For EVERYTHING to go his way. He knew everything, knew how to fight, had so much experience but ironically at the end, someone was able to creep up on him. And I was going to be really upset if at the end, someone finally takes him over. But he did, still, come out on top and I was glad of that.
The end kinda leaves you hanging. Like, you're not told whether they were successful (and then there's the question of, what 'successful' means) or the outcome, but you just kinda figure it out on your own.
Evidently, the struggle continue(s)d.
Great story.
But what I'd really like to know is: did this really happen? And if not, why hasn't it happened yet? I want to think it has happened and maybe the government hid it from us. B/c the book was just too genius for someone NOT to copycat.
Also, it was like Freeman was invincible or something. Which I wasn't sure how much I liked, b/c how realistic is that? To never get caught. To always end up on top. For EVERYTHING to go his way. He knew everything, knew how to fight, had so much experience but ironically at the end, someone was able to creep up on him. And I was going to be really upset if at the end, someone finally takes him over. But he did, still, come out on top and I was glad of that.
The end kinda leaves you hanging. Like, you're not told whether they were successful (and then there's the question of, what 'successful' means) or the outcome, but you just kinda figure it out on your own.
Evidently, the struggle continue(s)d.
Great story.
But what I'd really like to know is: did this really happen? And if not, why hasn't it happened yet? I want to think it has happened and maybe the government hid it from us. B/c the book was just too genius for someone NOT to copycat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2013
Damn, but this was good and hell of enjoyable. It moves fast, it's got that pulp feel where you always know the color of the whiskey label and the size of the man's lapels. It made me think of Gil Scott Heron's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and this is a tale of revolution pure and simple, taking everything positive in the biggest baddest gangs and turning them into a force for a racist government to reckon with. For just a taste of the prose
A brilliant caper of just what could have happened in the 1960s and 70s and didn't, though you wonder just where we would be now if it did. And it's got heart too, and friends on two sides of the wall, and you know when they start quoting Billy Holiday that it ain't going to end well, but it's true that God blesses the child who has his own...
Drop those names: doctors I have known, lawyers, judges, businessmen, dentists, politicians, and Great Negro Leaders I have known. Drop those brand names: GE, Magnavox, For, GM, Chrysler, Zenith, Brooks Brothers, Floorsheim, Johnny Walker, Chivas Regal, Jack Daniels. Imported Beer, Dupont carpeting, wall-to-wall. Wall-to-wall drags with split-level minds, remote-control color TV soulds and credit-card hearts.
Play who-do-you-know and who-have-you-screwed. Blow your bourgeois blues, your nigger soul sold for a mess of materialistic pottage ... You have a ceiling on you and yours, your ambitions; but the others are in the basement and you will help Mr. Charlie keep them there. If they get out and move up to your level, then what will you have?(16)
A brilliant caper of just what could have happened in the 1960s and 70s and didn't, though you wonder just where we would be now if it did. And it's got heart too, and friends on two sides of the wall, and you know when they start quoting Billy Holiday that it ain't going to end well, but it's true that God blesses the child who has his own...
March 14, 2025
“Well, you can’t be a cop without betraying your people and you can’t be with your people without betraying your badge”
First heard about this book through the tv show Atlanta as they parodied the title of the book for the title of one of the episodes. Later found out Nipsey Hussle was a big fan of it and even mentioned it in one of his songs. This book explores the ideas of oppression, black liberation/revolutionism, gorilla warfare, and the ghettos of America. Surprised to see it was published just before the start of the 70s as a lot of what is written can easily be applied for today’s day and age. Besides the message of the book being strongly present from the first page, the fictional story it tells about CIA officer - turned - revolution leader, Dan Freeman, is actually a very entertaining read. The author gives Freeman such strong qualities as a main character that it makes it easy for the reader to take in the messages without it feeling forced. This is such an important read, and strongly encourage anybody fed up with the way this country treats its own people to also give it a read. This book was also adopted into a movie in the 70s by the same name, with an OST exclusively by Herbie Hancock, so can’t wait to throw that on my tv as soon as possible. The movie itself was also taken out of theatres shortly after its release, and the government tried to suppress its release everywhere else…makes you think 🤔
First heard about this book through the tv show Atlanta as they parodied the title of the book for the title of one of the episodes. Later found out Nipsey Hussle was a big fan of it and even mentioned it in one of his songs. This book explores the ideas of oppression, black liberation/revolutionism, gorilla warfare, and the ghettos of America. Surprised to see it was published just before the start of the 70s as a lot of what is written can easily be applied for today’s day and age. Besides the message of the book being strongly present from the first page, the fictional story it tells about CIA officer - turned - revolution leader, Dan Freeman, is actually a very entertaining read. The author gives Freeman such strong qualities as a main character that it makes it easy for the reader to take in the messages without it feeling forced. This is such an important read, and strongly encourage anybody fed up with the way this country treats its own people to also give it a read. This book was also adopted into a movie in the 70s by the same name, with an OST exclusively by Herbie Hancock, so can’t wait to throw that on my tv as soon as possible. The movie itself was also taken out of theatres shortly after its release, and the government tried to suppress its release everywhere else…makes you think 🤔
August 18, 2012
This book was exceptional because of the underlying humanity detailed by the main character, Freeman. The author paints a very real dividing line between the desire to be accepted in the social norms of America and the desire to embrace one's own cultural and racial background. This particular story is about an African American man that seeks to get into the system and learn America's political and military points of view in order to turn that against the status quo. This story plays on the fears of upper class america and the idea that the urban and inner cities will rise up against economic limitations to rebel against the government. This is relevant even today as we face the fear of a declining middle class. The middle class glues society together and creates the stability needed to keep the system going. Regardless of race this book reminds us all what society is like when it is harshly divided by the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. It is also a reminder of the mask we all wear as we become the employee or the guy at the club or even the college student. These lines of social conduct that can't cross over because of the way it makes our peers uncomfortable.
The only reason this book was not 5 stars was the fact that at times there was glaring spelling errors and the grammar was difficult to overlook. Granted this was a dated book first published in 1969.
The only reason this book was not 5 stars was the fact that at times there was glaring spelling errors and the grammar was difficult to overlook. Granted this was a dated book first published in 1969.
February 22, 2025
I would love to see more black nationalism and black militancy (grounded in clear, radical political analysis) represented in black fiction. While reading this I couldn’t help but reflect on the intellectual and political climate of the Black Power movement (during which this was written), especially when comparing it to the Black Lives Matter movement and contemporary works like The Hate U Give. It feels like there’s a noticeable lack of imagination and political courage in today’s narratives. Which I think you can attribute to the decline of organized Black political struggle and the monopoly the black bourgeoisie have on storytelling and representation of "black culture."
The most glaring issue with this book is the way the female characters are written and it really cant be overlooked once you peep it. But overall this lived up to the hype for me. An entertaining and easy read with sharp critiques of capitalism, racism, and reformism
The most glaring issue with this book is the way the female characters are written and it really cant be overlooked once you peep it. But overall this lived up to the hype for me. An entertaining and easy read with sharp critiques of capitalism, racism, and reformism
March 7, 2013
Saw the movie years ago; this book does not disappoint. I'm halfway through + am thinking about how interesting it is in conversation with 'Django Unchained,' the current political climate, and the bad ass protagonist cannon. Can't wait to talk to someone about this book. Can't wait to start giving the book to folks as gifts, Can't wait to finish it.
October 12, 2020
I've been meaning to read this one for a while and I finally did. The story was not what I expected it to be--it was labeled as a satire, but it does not seem to me like a satire--it seems pretty serious. It was definitely a revolutionary novel for the time and it still has a lot of relevance to today, but it's a difficult book to get through
November 5, 2021
It’s crazy that this was written in the 60’s, yet is still so timely. I definitely want to watch the movie now. Going to visit Chicago for the first time coincidentally while reading this was interesting.
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