Huey Spirit of the Panther

Huey P. Newton remains one of the most misunderstood political figures of the twentieth century. As cofounder and leader of the Black Panther Party for more than twenty years, Newton (1942-1989) was at the forefront of the radical political activism of the 1960s and '70s. Raised in poverty in Oakland, California, and named for corrupt Louisiana governor Huey P. Long, Newton embodied both the passions and the contradictions of the civil rights movement he sought to advance. In this first authorized biography, Newton's former chief of staff David Hilliard and best-selling authors Keith and Kent Zimmerman team up to tell the WHOLE story of the man behind the organization that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover infamously dubbed "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country."

As chief of staff of the Black Panther Party, David Hilliard was actively involved in every major activity of the best-recognized and most feared African-American organization of the 1960s and '70s. He is the author of "This Side of Glory," a memoir that tells the story of his involvement in the Black Panthers, and the coeditor, with Don Weise, of "The Huey P. Newton Reader."

Keith and Kent Zimmerman are coauthors of the international best-seller "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs" with former Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten; "Sing My Way Home: Voices of the New American Roots Rock"; and the New York Times best-seller "Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club." The Zimmermans live in Oakland, California.