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Long Time Gone

Name: Long Time Gone
Author: William Lee Brent
ISBN: 9780812924862

by Brent, William Lee

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Overview

For more than twenty-five years, ever since he hijacked TWA Flight 151 in June of 1969 from Oakland, California, to Havana, Cuba, William Lee Brent has lived in Castro's Cuba. Long Time Gone is the unique memoir of a former high-ranking Black Panther (and ex-bodyguard to Eldridge Cleaver) who fled his native land to avoid standing trial on charges stemming from a shootout with the San Francisco police. With the publication of this book, Brent breaks his silence of a quarter century.

A former captain in the Black Panther Party and bodyguard to Eldridge Cleaver, Brent hijacked a plane to Cuba in June 1969 to avoid standing trial on charges stemming from a shootout with San Francisco police. To his surprise, however, upon his arrival in Havana, he was put in prison for 22 months. Now, at age 64, Brent has written his unique memoir. Photos.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Black Panther memoirs may now be in fashion, but Brent's story, though surely readable, is a minor one. Shaped by racism in the South and the army, he was drawn to the outlaw life of the streets and at 22 was sent to San Quentin for armed robbery. Out of prison, he gained inspiration from the Panthers' uncompromising stance, joined the group and gained greater stature in it. Dazed by drugs, he shot and wounded two San Francisco cops pursuing him; the Panthers expelled him for violating Panther discipline. Rather than face trial, Brent daringly hijacked a plane to Cuba. Half this book concerns his life in Cuba, but his tales of international Panther politics (including reinstatement by Huey Newton), cutting sugarcane proudly and bed-hopping with leftist internationalists are not too deep. Brent eventually joined Radio Havana Cuba, though he acknowledges that his reporting couldn't be fully honest. He remains a supporter of black liberation and the Cuban revolution, but offers no larger analysis. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.)

Library Journal

Another autobiography by an ex-Panther, this tale is told by someone who doesn't paint a very flattering picture of himself. A school dropout, Brent, now a Cuban exile, was in and out of prison as a young man. When he finally was released from jail in 1962, he vowed never to return. He joined the Black Panthers in 1967 at age 37, only to be expelled months later for violating one of their principles: drinking and carrying a loaded weapon on an assignment. He was arrested again for robbing a gas station attendant and participating in a shootout with the police. Out on bail, he singlehandedly hijacked a plane to Cuba; to his surprise he was thrown immediately into jail and remained there for 22 months. The rest of the saga reflects on the aftermath of his incarceration: his struggle to learn Spanish, his interest in socialism, and his work and experiences with the Cuban people. This is good reading until it bogs down in minutiae. A marginal purchase. Two other related books to consider are Elaine Brown's A Taste of Power (LJ 12/92) and Hugh Pearson's The Shadow of the Panther (LJ 5/1/94).-Ann Burns, "Library Journal"