signed first edition Hardcover
1978 · Waco, TX
by Cleaver, Eldridge
Waco, TX: Word Books, 1978. First edition. Hardcover. Very good/good +. SIGNED. 240pp. Octavo [22 cm] Black paper over boards, with a slant to the spine, and bumping at the spine ends. In a dust jacket, with rubbing to the panels, and a number of small closed and open creased tears to the edges. Inscribed by Eldridge Cleaver on the front free endpaper: "For____- / Snapshots of stops / Along the Way. / God Bless You! / Eldridge Cleaver / Eph 4:4-6." In addition, an ANS is tucked in. The note is written on letterhead printed with "Cleaver for Congress 8th Congressional District." The note states: "Hi! / Sorry it took so long. / But I finally got a hold of / a copy. Hope - well, thank / you. / Yours truly, / Eldridge Cleaver." Cleaver first rose to prominence with his preceding collection of autobiographical essays, "Soul on Ice," written while he was in prison, where he became a follower of Malcolm X. The book not only helped him win parole in 1966, but also helped to cement his reputation as a leading African-American militant spokesman. This is an inscribed first edition of Cleaver's later autobiographical work, "Soul on Fire," a work which addresses his time spent in exile following a shoot-out in Oakland, California between the Black Panther Party and the police. Following his exile, Cleaver returned to the United States in 1975, and in 1979 the charges against him were dropped after he pleaded guilty to being involved in the Oakland shoot-out. "Soul on Fire" was published one year before the charges were dropped. From the dust jacket- "'Soul on Fire' reveals the marvelous paradox that became Eldridge Cleaver's life, once he found the answer he had- unaware - been looking for all along. For here is his account of being a free man in Paris, yet miserable to the point of near-suicide; and returning to a jail cell in California, yet being happy to the point of tears." At the time the book was published, Cleaver was working actively with his prison ministry, Eldridge Cleaver Crusades. (Inventory #: 55273)