The Sky's the Limit

Anyone fascinated by true crime and legal thrillers will want to read "The SkyÕs The Limit: People v. Newton, The Real Trial of the 20th Century?" In comparing the 1968 trial of Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton to other riveting American trials from 1901 to 1999, author Lise Pearlman revisits historic legal battles featuring murder, rape and kidnapping, skeletons in celebrity closets, class warfare, fixing the World Series, evolution versus creationism, abuse of power and...
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Anyone fascinated by true crime and legal thrillers will want to read "The SkyÕs The Limit: People v. Newton, The Real Trial of the 20th Century?" In comparing the 1968 trial of Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton to other riveting American trials from 1901 to 1999, author Lise Pearlman revisits historic legal battles featuring murder, rape and kidnapping, skeletons in celebrity closets, class warfare, fixing the World Series, evolution versus creationism, abuse of power and political conspiracy. Each Òtrial of the centuryÓ serves as a window into its own era, but the author asserts that the Newton murder trial following a shootout with two Oakland policemen-Ñwhere the accused revolutionary put America itself on trial for 400 years of racismÑshould head the list. It drew an international spotlight on a superpower rocked by two political assassinations and bitterly divided over the Viet Nam War and the Civil Rights Movement. At the time, the FBI considered the Black Panthers the greatest internal threat to AmericaÕs security. So did Party spokesman Eldridge Cleaver, who threatened revolution if Newton were condemned to die. The author contends that the juryÕs surprising verdict still reverberates todayÑhad it turned out otherwise Barack Obama would likely not be President.