The first complete and balanced history of the Black Panther Party--powerful and provocative"Until The Shadow of the Panther there have been no serious book-length attempts to examine the Panthers' history and to evaluate their significance... A Notable Book of the Year. "--New York Times Book Review (front page)"A keenly observed, often brilliant, Panther-busting book... Pearson nevertheless portrays the Panthers' rise as an understandable reaction against ... white chauvinism. "--Los Angeles Times Book Review"This book will awaken profound misgivings--about gun-barrel rhetoric, about armed rebellion, about the ambiguities of justice. "--The New Yorker"A bracing experience ... Pearson has been able to present enough hard evidence to draw a chilling portrait of Murder Incorporated in revolutionary dress. "--New York Newsday"Pearson ... set out to write a very different book about his boyhood hero [Huey Newton] but didn't blink at the truth ... honest and compelling judgment. "--Detroit News