[Cleaver's] volume of "post-prison" writings and speeches (a phrase stamped on the book jacket and used as part of the title on the title page, no doubt to squeeze out every last drop of sensationalism) … is sheer polemics. Even worse, it is mere propaganda. Manifestoes, diatribes, threats, exhortations—the whole bag of propagandist tricks is here. Ostensibly to fill a political need. In actuality, to fulfill a simple economic greed: money. No, I'm not blaming Cleaver, although there is much that he can, and will, be blamed for. He apparently did not have much to do with it, now that he is [living in exile in Algiers]. Those who should be blamed know who they are….

During the past year I have talked with Cleaver, sitting with him one night into the small hours of the morning in the offices of Ramparts magazine. I was a sponsor of...