Perhaps we as humanity have come a ways, maybe thanks to them, since the Panthers first took up arms, defying the police to beat, shoot or incarcerate them. I say this because eight years ago a similar movement began in the southern highlands of Mexico, another marginalized group taking up arms in order to say,"Take notice, we're not taking it anymore." Instead of being branded thugs and criminals, the Zapatistas captured the hearts and minds of the world and continue their quest for equal rights and protection under the law.
According to their own writings (the real beauty of this book), these guys are not the black KKK or black neo-nazis, contrary to some opinion.
I found the writings of Eldridge Cleaver, a one-time candidate for president, to be some of my favorite.
I'll close with a citation from Julian Bond, which I think sums up what the Black Panther Party was really about: "What the Panthers do more than anything else is they set a standard that young black people particularly want to measure up to...It's a standard of aggressiveness, of militance, of just plain forcefulness, the sort of standard we haven't had in the past. Our idols have been Dr. King who, for all his beauty as a man, was not an aggressive man." Even Dr. King began to take a more aggressive approach before he was gunned down. It's not hate or intimidation, but standing up for oneself as a man.
I recommend complementary readings of the Autobiography of Malcolm X and the Wretched of the Earth.
The only minor flaw about this book is that it was written in I believe '70, before the demise of the BPP. The BPP agenda drastically changed during the time after the book was written. Bobby seale and other leaders strayed away from their militant stance.