A Disjointed Search for the Will to Live

Shaka NZingas powerful memoir reveals the personal and political transformation of an African American youth growing up in the urban poverty of Baltimore. The writing slips between present and past and between poetry and prose, gradually revealing the protagonists shifts in consciousness. Incarcerated since age sixteen, the author’s articles have been influential in prisoner support networks. The book joins such classics as Eldridge Cleavers Soul on Ice and George Jacksons Soledad Brother.