Publishers Weekly
05/01/2023
In this riveting group portrait, journalist Holley (Murder Ballads) chronicles the Black Panther movement from the 1960s to the present through the lives of the Shakur family. The Shakurs, a close-knit group of friends and relations who changed their surnames together in honor of Black nationalist Salahdeen Shakur, included Mutulu, an acupuncture trailblazer, and Salahdeen’s biological son Lumumba, cofounder of the Harlem Panthers. But it is the exploits of formidable Shakur women that stand out here. After Afeni, mother of rapper Tupac, was arrested in 1969 as one of the “Panther 21” charged with conspiracy to bomb various locations in New York City, she represented herself in court and managed to secure the group’s acquittal. Assata—a member of the breakaway Black Liberation Army, which rose to prominence after the 1973 death of Salahdeen’s other son Zayd in a shoot-out with police—engineered a bold prison break in 1979. Groomed to be a Black liberation leader, Tupac was ultimately more artist than revolutionary, according to Holley. Sweeping and sober, this is a vital chapter in the history of the struggle for racial justice. (May)
From the Publisher
"Sets a standard for drama that seems impossible to sustain. But the cast of characters expands, and somehow each one the reader encounters is as compelling as the last.... As revealing and inclusive a portrait of the Shakurs as we have seen.... An Amerikan Family offers no romantic assurance that the Shakurs’ legacy in politics or music will live on exactly as they intended. Instead, it provides readers with a visceral and unsanitized account of the Black liberation struggle as a material and often lawless battle between the American government and Black people who refuse to be trampled upon." — New York Times Book Review (Editors' Pick)
"Magnificent…. A uniquely intimate history of Black liberation…. Writing as a historian and storyteller, Holley never lets us lose sight of the complex tapestry of movements that marked the era….The greatest triumph of An Amerikan Family is the way Holley expertly blends archival research—including court documents, congressional transcripts, FBI records and newspaper clippings—with oral history to tell human stories that are at once exceptional and recognizable…. Seeing the humanity in these revolutionaries can allow the next generation of activists to see themselves as capable of resilience, and of becoming new models for making change." — Los Angeles Times
"Unlike other prominent American families, the Shakurs did not have millions of dollars to establish universities and foundations in their name. But what they did create was a powerful legacy of resistance.... Holley’s book represents the most detailed account of the Shakurs to date…. An Amerikan Family opens an important conversation about Black resistance to oppression in U.S. history." — The New Republic
"Holley’s prose is captivating, as he describes the lives of Lumumba Shakur, Afeni Shakur, and Sekou Odinga, among others, and their impact on Black nationalism as well as on modern activism.... Holley’s riveting, detailed history is essential reading for understanding modern America and the Shakurs' enduring legacy." — Booklist (starred review)
"A history of a dynasty of Black resistance.... Well written and richly detailed, this book is a strong contribution to the literature of Black militancy." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“An Amerikan Family is a first chapter in making the world better, with truth and beauty. For those of us who haven’t seen their stories written as they battled the darkness around them, An Amerikan Family is a light helping us go forward.” — Nikki Giovanni, poet
"[A] riveting group portrait.... Sweeping and sober, this is a vital chapter in the history of the struggle for racial justice." — Publishers Weekly
"Holley presents a teeming narrative. Details may astonish readers, but the plot feels right at home in the season of Black Lives Matter and the reemergence of white nationalism." — Alta Journal
"Santi Elijah Holley uncovers the truth about this family of artists and activists and tells their story in a whole new way." — The Root
“What COINTELPRO worked so hard at wiping out is forever chronicled in this lost chapter of Amerikan history. Funny how the history of one family can cover so much ground, unearth so many bodies, and reveal so many conspiracies and hard-born realities — from the heart of the U.S. government's anti-black policies to the very soul of the Black power and liberation movements. Holley’s impeccable research takes what has been handed down orally to the children of the movement and lines it up with what has been factually documented. One way or another we have all been touched by the Shakur family, and here is a testament to the fiery spirit that has sparked the brains of generations to come.” — Saul Williams, author of Said the Shotgun to the Head and The Dead Emcee Scrolls
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-03-11
The history of a dynasty of Black resistance.
“The legacy of the Shakur family exists all around us—in culture, activism, and our professional lives,” writes journalist Holley. Best known is Tupac, murdered in 1996 at the age of 25, who brought a questioning complexity to his lyrics that has remained influential. His mother, Afeni, was an activist in the Black Panther Party, which was a tiny organization in New York until she joined in 1968 and became an engaged speaker and recruiter. Activist Bill Hampton called it “a service organization and a black liberation army,” but J. Edgar Hoover discounted the service aspect and launched an extensive campaign against the Panthers involving informants and surveillance. Afeni was swept up in a charge of conspiracy and jailed until, pregnant with Tupac, she was acquitted in May 1971. She remained a committed activist, while others in the family and organization drifted when the Panthers began to break apart. Assata Shakur became an activist in the Black Liberation Army—though, Holley writes, she “was more of an enigma than a leader.” Convicted of murder, she escaped from prison in 1979 and has lived ever since in Cuba. Mutulu Shakur, “a soldier in the New Afrikan Security Forces” who became a leader and holistic healer, married Afeni after Tupac was born. Later, he was implicated in a series of admittedly undisciplined armed robberies; he was released from prison in December 2022 after four decades, but even as he languished there, his acupuncture-based techniques for narcotics detoxification were widely employed. “What remains today of the Black liberation movement is not immediately evident,” writes Holley, but much of it resides in social justice work, youth education, and food programs—and much of that owes to the Shakurs.
Well written and richly detailed, this book is a strong contribution to the literature of Black militancy.
