Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People

Kekla Magoon's young adult novel The Rock and the River, which won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award, was the first mainstream novel for young people to feature the Black Panther Party. She is the Margaret A. Edwards Award-winning author of more than a dozen books for young readers, including Fire in the Streets and How It Went Down. She is also the coauthor, with Ilyasah Shabazz, of X: A Novel, which was long-listed for the National Book Award and received an NAACP Image Award and a Coretta Scott King Honor. Kekla Magoon grew up in Indiana and now lives in Vermont, where she serves on the faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

This comprehensive, meticulously researched volume helps readers understand the Panthers within the spectrum of Black resistance. The narrative is cinematic in its descriptions of the personalities and incidents that make up the party s history while presenting a throughline to the anti-racist activism of today. The book s attractive graphic design, with ample use of robin s egg blue in contrast to dramatic black-and-white photographs, and with memorable quotes scattered throughout, makes it visually pleasing. . . highly readable and not-to-be-missed.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In this powerful history, Magoon (Light It Up) presents an incisive, in-depth study of the Black Panther Party.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Magoon has produced a comprehensive and all-encompassing account of the group. . . . Her history of the Black Panther Party is meticulously detailed. . . . Magoon goes beyond the dissolution of the Party to discuss life for Black Americans from 1982 to 2020, expertly drawing parallels between the Black Panther Party and the Black Lives Matter movement. . . invaluable for both individual and classroom reading.
The Horn Book (starred review)

Exceedingly well researched, illustrated, and sourced. . . This rounded accounting of a pivotal but often-overlooked time in U.S. history should be widely read.
Booklist (starred review)

Magoon offers an in-depth look at the Black Panthers that we ve not really seen for young people -one that is honest and offers a much-needed corrective. . . A must-have.
School Library Journal (starred review)

Magoon delivers what may be her magnum opus a complete history of the Black Panther Party (BPP) written from the viewpoint of an insider. . . . Her linear narrative writing style fits this work well. . . a must for students.

School Library Connection (starred review)

Magoon, writing with clarity and accessibility, gives a full picture of an organization based in Black power, how it came