Panther Baby Paperback – February 7, 2012

It's around 9:30 PST on Saturday night and I just finished Jamal Joseph's amazing book. It's all true but it's as good as any thriller fiction I've read, maybe better. I started reading this afternoon, forgot to eat dinner I was so drawn in. It's the story of a man who's lived his life starting at the bottom and ending up at the top, with two stints in prison in between - all this before he became the Dean of Columbia University Film School. He was a Black Panther, a community organizer, a prison playwright, a screenwriter, a director and a husband and father of three. For those of you who weren't around during the Civil Rights wars, here's a chance to experience them. For those of you who were, it's a chance to reminisce as if you were hearing it from an old and dear friend. Well written, fast paced, lively, tragic and in the end, joyful.The film rights to Jamal Joseph's story have been optioned by Focus Features but don't wait until the movie comes out, read the book now. You won't be able to put it down.

Loved it easy to read, very informal & very deep. I guess it's true that the truth can be held in books 📚 I think that's what lacking in the community of city kids( educational system that we are taught & mix with the conditions we live in) we are taught what (supposedly we're supposed to learn) instead of the truth of our African American heroes or what they say about the black panthers is wrong. But 9 times out of 10 that's only during February. This is the type of book that I willPass down to the next generation like my future kids. I'm a huge Tupac fan & he is considered one of my heroes or just because what he did but what he stood for it's just something I can relate too. I heard of this guy (Jamal Joseph) while just typical searching for some new (old) Tupac interviews about him or just him talking about something in general & I came across this interview & I heard the things he talked like the panther 21 (I was familiar with) & of course Tupac in which made me buy his book. I also remember what Farrakhan said at the MILLION MAN MARCH ABOUT people saying he had something about him having something to do with Malcom X's death now I see where he got the information about the undercover FBI agent because this book came out in 2012 & he 20th anniversary of the mmm was in 2015 in which he addressed this

I've seen Jamal Joseph in few Panther documentaries and always wanted to find out more about his role in the Panthers and what led him to the arts. This book gives fantastic insight on his life as well as the inner battles faced by the Panthers back then. It's a blessing that this brother is still around to lead the youth in positive direction. Power to the people!

As some other reviewers have indicated, this non-fiction portrayal of Jamal James life reads like a novel. There are many interesting characters and experiences along the way that keeps the reader turning the pages. My one criticism, however, and why "only" 4 stars, is the lack of a cohesive message. What did it all mean? Was anything accomplished and is anything being accomplished to advance the black experience and plight in white America? While the Panthers attempted to resolved that dilemma, the movement faded on the vine, and this book offers no answer as to what did, or can, replace. it.

A five star rating is well placed for this text. If the makings of a great book are a strong plot or story arch, dynamic characters, a protagonist who strongly evolves, and an end that leaves the reader wanting more and wishing the story had not ended, then PANTHER BABY fulfills all of these aspects. A gripping bildungsroman of the life of Jamal Joseph unfold in these pages. As a young 15 year old Harlem resident, Joseph leaves one "fraternity" whose purpose was uplift and advancement of young African Americans for another one that had the same, yet a broader purpose. The irony of his choice and the circular path on which his switch led him bespeaks life's brutal paradoxes and violent lessons learned by so many activists and freedom fighters all over the world. As a child of the sixties, raised in a rural, southern, educated middle class family, I was always fascinated with the Black Panthers. Brother Joseph's story filled in some gaps in my knowledge of the Panther's general history, but exceeded this with a personal story of convolution, betrayal and revelation. I ended this reading wanting to shake this brother's hand, congratulate and thank him for staying true to the struggle, though doing so took him to some corners of hell I am sure he probably never conceived existed quite in the fashion he found them. PANTHER BABY is a must read for history lovers, young and old, those who follow politics, and for all African Americans.

I picked this up on Kindle after reading a short excerpt on the web and had a chance to read it over my spring break. It is an extremely interesting book and a look at a fascinating time in our country's history through the eyes of an urban, black teenager. I must say I know very little about the history of the black panthers and what I did know was through the lens of them being "terrorists." I won't go into my politics, but regardless of that it is a deeply entertaining book.

Jamal Joseph's takes us on a visual ride to a time in history that most people soon forget. He brings it back in vivid reality and stimulates us know about an organization that has been mystified by the popular culture. Through his eyes and personal experience we as the reader get a chance to see into what the Black Panther Party was all about. We also get a personal look at the manchild Jamal Joseph, as he make his way through the maze of what was the Black Liberation Movement. With Harlem being the home base then from coast to coast, city to city we travel with the life and death situation of a group fighting a just cause and what happened to them. But it's not all hard core concreate, the relationship between Jamal and his grandmother will move you to tears. This book reminds me of classics like "Manchild in the Promised Land" and "Down These Mean Streets." Grow and expand, be moved and even laugh. PANTHER BABY is a must read. Levy Lee Simon/Playwright Actor.

I read about this on the BBC website and it sounded interesting. I decided to read while on holidays and I couldn't put it down!