Black Crusader

Book excerpt: The 2008 Photo Illustrated Edition of Robert Carl Cohen's 1972 biography of Robert Franklin Williams, advocate of armed self-defense in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, and prophet of ghetto uprisings and a Socialist Revolution. The story of how an easily contented youngster who dreamed of becoming a poet was transformed into an archenemy of the U.S. power structure. Included in these pages are historically significant events such as Williams' talks with Fidel Castro and Mao Tse-Tung, details of the infighting within the Cuban Communist Party, his meeting with Che Guevara, and impressions of life in China during the first years of the "Great Cultural Revolution." This new edition is illustrated with previously unpublished photos of Williams & his wife, Mabel, in exile in Cuba and Africa. KIRKUS REVIEWS: "The education of one Black man you should not miss, and certainly cannot dismiss."