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The Briar Patch
On April 2, 1969 five-man squads of New York policemen, armed with shotguns and wearing bulletproof vests, pounded on a succession of apartment doors throughout New York City, rounding up members of the Black Panther party. Thirteen of twenty-one suspects were charged and tried for attempted arson, attempted murder, and conspiracies to blow up various police stations, school buildings, a railroad yard, and the Bronx Botanical Gardens. But the forces of "law and order" behaved in a decidedly less lawful manner than the defendants. The Briar Patch brilliantly examines the proceedings, from the police undercover operations that first implicated the Panthers, to their acquittal on all charges. It remains a seminal book - not just about the Panther 21, but about the quality of justice in America.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
291 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 25, 2018
2018 Reading Challenge - True crime
This book is terrible. I would never read it unless you are trying to gain a full picture of the political climate surrounding the trial of the New York 21 Black Panthers. The author calls himself a journalist, but seems to lack any research skills, and has no problem letting his blatant bias, bigotry and racism shape this entire work. He never sites interviews or primary sources, but presumes to know the interworking of minds of people he has no respect for. It seems unlikely these same people would have divulged their thoughts to him, so one can only conclude he is speculating, at best. Kempton falls into tired tropes of racism, referring to Black men and women with racial slurs, and framing people as primitive, unsophisticated and unable to understand the political world or implications of it. Kempton portrays himself as all knowing and able to see the "bigger" picture in a way the judge, prosecutor, defenders, and defendants are unable to. In short, he is arrogant, bigoted, and unable to admit that he is not objective and this taints everything.
This book is terrible. I would never read it unless you are trying to gain a full picture of the political climate surrounding the trial of the New York 21 Black Panthers. The author calls himself a journalist, but seems to lack any research skills, and has no problem letting his blatant bias, bigotry and racism shape this entire work. He never sites interviews or primary sources, but presumes to know the interworking of minds of people he has no respect for. It seems unlikely these same people would have divulged their thoughts to him, so one can only conclude he is speculating, at best. Kempton falls into tired tropes of racism, referring to Black men and women with racial slurs, and framing people as primitive, unsophisticated and unable to understand the political world or implications of it. Kempton portrays himself as all knowing and able to see the "bigger" picture in a way the judge, prosecutor, defenders, and defendants are unable to. In short, he is arrogant, bigoted, and unable to admit that he is not objective and this taints everything.
February 3, 2023
This book is the most accurate account from this particular trial to be found anywhere in the world. It was recommended to me by a man with a PhD. in sociology.
Murray Kempton was a long-time writer for the New York Post before Murdoch bought it out and made it very biased. I believe this book is actually a collection of columns that were in the New Republic. However, I may be mistaken. Kempton did cover the trial in person from the start to finish. His strengths as a journalist include the ability to vividly describe the people that he covered without inserting himself into the story in any facet.
This is collegiate level reading and is better served being savored over the course of time as opposed to being crammed as quickly as possible.
The downside to this book is that it is from 1973, so many of the people covered here went on to other things over the years.
It is a mandatory book if you want an accurate description of a very messy Black Panther trial.
Murray Kempton was a long-time writer for the New York Post before Murdoch bought it out and made it very biased. I believe this book is actually a collection of columns that were in the New Republic. However, I may be mistaken. Kempton did cover the trial in person from the start to finish. His strengths as a journalist include the ability to vividly describe the people that he covered without inserting himself into the story in any facet.
This is collegiate level reading and is better served being savored over the course of time as opposed to being crammed as quickly as possible.
The downside to this book is that it is from 1973, so many of the people covered here went on to other things over the years.
It is a mandatory book if you want an accurate description of a very messy Black Panther trial.
May 7, 2022
DNF. I was very interested in reading this story, and I'm positive it's an important and fascinating one. But Kempton writes in a quasi-passive voice in run-on sentences that are nearly impossible to parse. He seems more interested in showing how good a stylist he is than actually communicating.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews