SOURCE: "Mad Babylon," in Spectator, Vol. 223, No. 7368, September 13, 1969, p. 338.

[In the following review, Hood describes aspects of Cleaver's polemics in Post-Prison Writings and Speeches, concentrating on his sexual and social reform theories.]

'It has been said that people get the rulers they deserve. I do not believe, however, that America has the rulers it deserves. The State of California, emphatically, could not deserve the rulers it has. Yet we have them …' Thus Eldridge Cleaver in 'An Aside to Ronald Reagan', who had contrived to boycott Cleaver's appointment to a lectureship at the University of California. From its opening sentence—'I never liked Ronald Reagan'—to its final, contemptuous dismissal—'Walk, chicken, with your ass picked clean'—it is five pages long. It shows Cleaver to be a master of concise invective and is easily the most brilliant of the present collection [Eldridge Cleaver: Post-Prison Writings and Speeches...