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Orisanmi Burton: Tip of the Spear (2023, University of California Press) 5 stars

Tip of the Spear centers Black revolutionary warfare and warriors seeking to explain them and …

This was a really good read. It situated the struggle by radical and radicalized prisoners in the period / region before /during / after the Attica Rebellion in an interesting way I wasn't aware of, telling stories I was ignorant of, and allowed the words of participants to show the revolutionary promise of the inside/outside uprising by Black and aligned radicals. A discussion of gender and sexuality during the revolts was quite interesting. While I was really hoping for more coverage of post-1971 FBI &/or CIA-driven counter-intelligence via programs like PRISACTS in New York or the SSU in California prisons, I hope that this book will help spur more scholarship uncovering the legacy of dirty-handed tactics to undermine truly revolutionary organizing against this white supremacist hellhole.