Assata: An Autobiography (Lawrence Hill & Co.)

Such a great book. Thoroughly enjoyed reading about Assata’s life from childhood to an adult. Most of us are aware of how much the police and system in America continually oppress minorities. But it will always be an eye opener when it was so overt in the past and how people were treated and how so much people have overcome. I’ve recommended this book to all my friends and want to also buy the hard copy.

The book was on my wish list for a long while, and it's only after she passed away that I bought it. I heard of Assata Shakur from Common's song A SONG FOR ASSATA back in 2000, yet I'd never really taken an interest in finding out more. In 2026, the world is in turmoil, and reading her accounts of the abuse she suffered from the US government, I can see how imperialism, capitalism, and racism are evil oppressive systems. The book led me to learn about the My Lai massacre and subsequently, COVER UP (Seymour Hirsch documentary on Netflix), as well as the injustice African Americans have to endure in a land that is as much as theirs as their European counterparts. Going back in forth between her childhood, teenage years, and her time in incarceration, sprinkled with beautiful poems, you get a glimpse of a beautiful mind and a resilient human being. Assata Shakur is a survivor. She is a phenomenal woman, and she told her story perfectly well, articulate, poignant, vivid, introspective, and fascinating. We must, as a human race, learn to love each other and stop exploiting one another. This is how I felt when I read the last word of her biography.

A thoroughly thought-provoking, engaging and enraging read. It could have been written in present times.

I loved everything about this book. The non linear structure and how she kept switching from her childhood perspective growing up to when she was getting arrested and all the struggles she went through being a prisoner and going through all the trials. The writing was very vivid as you read you feel like you are living in the moment. The language is amazing as well the abundance of language techniques was put well together. What I loved was how she was very honest about the struggles she went through as a black child and how each time she was growing up she always had the desire to educate herself in a lot of issues. Moreover it’s an amazing autobiography to read I recommend it, the poetry was beautiful as well!!

Assata is a well paced book that is easy to read and enjoyable. She includes some of her own poetry that is relevant to the bigger story. It is well constructed and I can't see anyone being disappointed. At times her story made me cry, but in no way does it try to milk emotion; indeed it is usually understated. The book cleverly and simply alternates between her early childhood and her difficult time in prison, including the string of ridiculous trials. The writing has a ring of the beat generation (like spelling america as amerika) but this adds quaintness to the book and places it neatly in the era in which it was written. My only criticism would be that it could have included more details to produce a really authoritative text, but it isn't that type of book: it's a book about her feelings, her thoughts, her childhood and her progress and development through active socialism, and how she coped with her time in prison. An important and enjoyable book.

You get right to the end of this book, and she doesn't say anything about the jail break, the book is leading up to it, you're waiting..... And then nothing, very very disappointing, It a great book, the US "justice system" is layed bare, but the whole book is ruined by the ommission of the jail break.

This important read. I drank this book up. Such a page turner. I was always intrigued by Assata and her story but was hesitant as I oftentimes struggle to read about the black struggle and trauma in the hands of white racists. However this is a necessary read. Despite how the media and the whites have portrayed people like Assata and Malcom, erasing their work and true story. Its so important to read and do your own research into our histories. If you want to continue to learn more about revolutionary thinkers and believers, this book is a good start.

An insight to the unfair justice system and imperialistic system aka United States of America. This book is not for the fragile. It's raw yet emotional. An insight to Assata's challenging life from confused child to revolutionary, fighting for the people she loved the most. She is nothing but an inspiration to all African women both in the continent and in the diaspora. I've read this book more than once and each time I discover something new. Thank you Assata, you are loved!

Nice quality printing. The book is the personal story of an American black socialist revolutionary and her part in an imperfect struggle for socialism and liberation. She witnessed the impact of Cointelpro inside of the Black Panther Party and critically assess its strengths and decline.

Bien

The book exposes the unjust socio-economic and political system of the USA and how you can be framed by the institutions that are suppose to protect you. I recommand this book to everybody. Some very detail information such as the escape are left out. I gues it was not included to protec certain individual that helped her. The book was written in the late 1980s, so it is understandable that it would have given the FBI a hint. I recommand this book to anybody and especially to women.

The quality of biographies and autobiographies is largely dependent upon the life lived by the individual and how the story is told. Someone could have lived a full and exciting life but tell about it in a drab, dull way. Whereas someone could have lived a mundane, boring life but narrated it in a colorful and interesting way. Assata lived a very interesting life, much different than the majority of us, and she told her story in an uncomplicated and intriguing manner. I had never heard of Assata Shakur until I saw her named mentioned in another book I was reading. Now I'm quite upset that I didn't know about her sooner or that I hadn't read her story when I was younger. Assata's simple yet powerful story of her life in New York as a young woman searching for a way to best serve her people is amazing. I absolutely love her toughness, her mindset and her ability to think for herself. Although she joined the Black Panther Party she was not hesitant to point out its flaws and what they needed to do to improve. She took a critical thinking approach to everything she did though her actions weren't completely devoid of emotion. What happened to her as an adult is eerily similar to what happened to so many other freedom fighters/Black activists in the 60's and 70's: they were either killed or imprisoned. Fortunately, she wasn't killed though it wasn't for lack of trying. That night of May 2, 1973 had death sentence written all over it. But she survived and fought one legal battle after the next until the system finally succeeded in putting her away. It was a matter of: "we have the resources and the means and you do not." Assata was an amazing woman and it literally radiates from the pages. And she tells her story in a straightforward way. She's not trying to exhibit how much she knows or even how much she's done. It is not a verbose book with $10 words in there to wow the reader. It is a simple no-nonsense telling of what her life was like in the Black urban areas of New York as a child, how she became the pro-Black woman she became and how a system of institutionalized racism ran her over with their 20 ton train. She conspicuously and wisely omits a lot of names and details when it comes to some of her movements and meetings during her Panther days and, of course, of her escape from prison. Still, you learn all you need to know about Assata and the powers that she was up against. But she named herself Assata Olugbala Shakur for a reason: "Assata means 'She who struggles,' Olugbala means 'Love for the people,' ...Shakur means 'the thankful.'" I would say that she embodied all of that and I'M thankful she lived the life she lived, told the story she told and I'm thankful I got a chance to read and appreciate it.

She delves too much into her life as a kid making it tedious and barely mentions how she did get involved in guerrilla, her version about what happened in the shooting, how she escaped to Cuba. I understand she doesn’t want to talk about the most critica aspects of her life because of the implications but missing those parts makes it cherry picking and not entirely honest. There are many biographies of other revolutunaries (A. Davis, f.e.) which are way better in so many ways.