Waco, TX: Word Books, 1978. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. 240 pages. Illustrations. DJ is in a plastic sleeve and has edge wear, tears, chips, and soiling. Contents are: Soul on Fire, Childhood Lessons, California Choices, 3,285 Days Equals Prison, Panthers and Power, Communism: Its Flowers and Thorns, Blood and Wine are Red, Algiers, Finding God--Finding Eldridge, Epilogue, and Chronology of Events. Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. In 1968, Cleaver wrote Soul on Ice, a collection of essays that, at the time of its publication, was praised by The New York Times Book Review as "brilliant and revealing". Cleaver stated in Soul on Ice: "If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America." Cleaver went on to become a prominent member of the Black Panthers, while a fugitive from the United States in Cuba and Algeria. He became a fugitive after leading an ambush on Oakland police officers, during which two officers were wounded. Cleaver was wounded and Bobby Hutton was killed. Cleaver's influence on the direction of the Party was rivaled only by founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Cleaver and Newton eventually fell out, which weakened the party. After spending seven years in exile in Cuba, Algeria, and France, Cleaver returned to the US in 1975, and he became involved in various religious groups before finally joining the Mormon Church, as well as becoming a conservative Republican. More