There just seems to be so much history that we are not taught and things that we really do not need to know we do learn. I had never heard of this person and that is a darn shame. Mr. Haas has opened my eyes, or shall I say continued to open about the racism, hypocrisy and what black and brown people go thru. It does center the victims of the police raid on the Panthers, the Black Panther program, Hampton's leadership and the major political events.

This was an amazing, heartbreaking an inspiring read. Fred Hampton, leader of the Chicago branch of The Black Panthers was assassinated. This book details his life, what happened before and right after his murder, as well as the subsequent legal trials to avenge his murder. The book was so emotional, I had to read it slowly so it wouldn't affect my mental health. This was a heart wrenching, but much needed story to be told. The author did such a great job with this book.

I had not read anything about the assassination of Fred Hampton and knew very little about him as a person. This book, I had hoped, would change that. However, the author Jeffrey Haas inserted himself into the book from almost the very beginning...for being a book about Fred Hampton, we learned a lot about Haas along the way. It would be reasonable for Haas to write a book about his own efforts in the Civil Rights Movement, but seems a bit disingenuous to frame this as a book about Hampton.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my review, but my opinions are my own.

First, know that this is less about the actual life and assassination of Fred Hampton and more about the long civil rights trial to uncover and prove the conspiracy among Chicago police, prosecutor Hanrahan, and the FBI to murder Fred Hampton.

Many comments mention that this is problematic because the author is a white man. Haas, the author, was one of the founders of the People's Law Office, who represented many radical groups, including the Chicago Black Panthers. He also was deeply involved in the trial. After a brief introduction to Hampton's Chicago and Black Panthers, he takes you through the raid and step by step through the days, weeks, months, and years after the assassination. This is powerful stuff. I knew the general story, but being led through the months of racism, obstruction, and cruelty brings an entirely different understanding and feeling. I highly recommend interspersing with videos of the interviews he mentions. The interview with Deborah Johnson holding Fred Jr and the interview where William O'Neal talks about his role are both on YouTube, for example.

My only wish is that there were a concluding chapter that gave a debriefing of everything just covered in detail. The current epilogue with what happened to the various players is wonderful, and would be even more impactful with the recap.

Thank you to Jeffrey Haas, Lawrence Hill Books, and Netgalley for an ecopy in exchange for an honest opinion.

An excellent read, both about Fred Hampton life and assassination and Haas' life as a civil rights lawyer. The book does center on Haas more than I would like it to, but I found real value in getting the in-depth legal side to the fight to expose the police and government coverup. It also served as a brief introduction to the Black Panthers - a group I didn't learn about in Canada, in any meaningful way.
Unfortunately, we do not get a great sense of Fred Hampton as a person - I'd attribute that partly to his life being cut short by the police and partly to Haas having only met Hampton the once before he was murder.
Hampton could have been a giant of the civil rights movement, had he not been murdered, and he was born the same year as my mom (I mean a giant in the sense that his name would be up there with MLK and Malcolm X, rather than requiring a deeper dive, obviously he was incredibly influential during his brief life). This wasn't ancient history, and I think we miss that when civil rights are glanced over in high school..
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ebook, I urge everyone to read this book to get a real sense of the "justice" system.

A lot of people know his name. They know the story of his life and what he stood for. But, that sadly is where it may stop. This well written book takes you deeper into the man and his life. This is an excellent read. I highly recommend. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

I wanted to read this book in conjunction with the movie release of Judas and the Black Messiah. The movie does a fantastic job of showing the events that led up to the assassination of Fred Hampton. The book really focuses on the legal case after Fred Hampton was killed. The PLO (People's Law Office) brought a suit against the Chicago Police Department and the FBI. It took twelve years of litigation for the PLO to win a 1,85 million dollar lawsuit. Small justice for the people and the families that were victims of a government and police conspiracy to kill Fred Hampton and harm the members of the Black Panther party. I would recommend reading this riveting novel along with watching Judas and the Black Messiah to further educate yourself on the government illegality and atrocities committed against black people.