I don't know how to review this without feeling like I'm throwing a bunch of generic adjectives that undermine how radical this book really is.

Assata is a political manifesto disguised as an autobiography. Assata takes you on a systemic analysis of racism, capitalism, imperialism, and patriarchy using her own lived experience as a Black woman in America. In doing so, she embodies the idea that the personal is political, that the self cannot be extricated from the systems that inform its material reality.

Assata is a poet, and her skill as a writer is always at the forefront. Assata's strength as both a speaker and a writer is her bold, clear language. Her ability to take abstract, hard-to-grasp ideas and repackage them in a way that hits you straight in the chest.

She writes from a place of pure self-acceptance. Confidence is the foundation for her vulnerability; she doesn't shy away from showing us her full journey as a radical, even when she doubts herself, which serves as a powerful reminder that radicalization is an action, an ever-present choice that we make in our day-to-day lives.

Oppression becomes ambient and normal when we stop examining it, and that's exactly the outcome these systems hope for. Assata isn't afraid to lay things out plainly, whether it be her rage at the state, or her complicated relationship with the Black Panther Party and its ideals.

This stark honesty works in tandem with her focus on community and collective liberation, to demystify what it means to be a radical, an activist, a voice for justice. Assata never lets us forget the comrades who lifted her up and fought alongside her, emphasizing how much she truly embodied collective liberation. Her writing choices alchemize into a de-mythologizing of herself as a historical figure.

Reading Assata in 2026 was a balm. Her struggle and insistence on moving forward despite facing violence from the state created an oddly comforting experience. Her struggle on the surface seems insurmountable, and yet she continued forward because she believed in the hope of a radical future. Even if she became jaded, or numb, or lost, she never lost sight of her hope, and it carried her forward through horror.

Assata blows every debate and every meandering conversation out of the water by grounding you, re-centering your vision on the importance of solidarity and anti-imperialist struggle. This book will shake you to your core, demand your engagement, and embolden you to continue onward.