Fight the Power!:A Panel Discussion at the Strand Tomorrow

On Tuesday, February 13th, the Strand Bookstore (Broadway & 12th Street) will host a panel discussion, "The Legacy of the Black Power Movement: a conversation between two generations," from 7 to 8:30. The talk features Herb Boyd, author most recently of WE SHALL OVERCOME: THE STORY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AS IT HAPPENED, and Dr. Peniel E. Joseph, whose WAITIN' TIL THE MIDNIGHT HOUR: A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF BLACK POWER IN AMERICA, was selected as one of the best books of 2006 by the Washington Post. The discussion will prove to be engaging, historically clarifying, and undoubtedly revise the force and character of black militancy in the popular imagination.

I haven't read Boyd's book (though familiar enough with articles here and there), but Joseph's book is an extraordinary survey of the black power movement, which is often villified when it is not stereotyped. Joseph's account furnishes a historical overview that is wide-ranging and the most in-depth study I've read about this subject ever. In fact, WAITIN' TIL THE MIDNIGHT HOUR is one of the most powerful historical studies I've come across in over a decade. And it is a joy to read history so well written: the eloquence and focus of the writing will astonish. Come on down to the Strand for a night of conversation, polemicists and pacifists welcome. -curley