George Jackson dedicates
Soledad Brother to his younger brother
Jonathan (who had recently died while trying to free the Soledad Brothers); to his mother Georgia Bea; and to his close friend and political comrade
Angela Davis. The first letter in the book is a lengthy autobiographical account that Jackson wrote at the request of his editor, Greg Armstrong, who wanted readers to have background information to better understand the subsequent letters to Jackson's family and friends. The next section includes letters that Jackson wrote to his parents between June 1964 and December 1969. His correspondence with his father Robert reveals a running "conversation-argument" between a revolutionary son and a conservative father, which
Suzannah Lessard characterized as "the struggle between two generations of black Americans—those who would cast their lot with the system despite its abuses and the spiritual cost, and those who find the black role in the society intolerable—worse than imprisonment, worse than death." At one point, Jackson writes: In the dozen letters to his lawyer
Fay Stender, Jackson often describes prison conditions: In another letter to Stender, he writes: Jackson's radical political views are expressed in several of the letters, for example: The letters frequently showcase Jackson's wide reading in literature, political philosophy, and history. For instance, he concludes a letter to his younger sister Frances by saying, "I must now start doing all that is humanly possible to get out of prison. I can see great ill forecast for me if I don't find some way to extract myself from these people's control." He then pours forth to her without line breaks the entirety of
Claude McKay's 1919
sonnet "
If We Must Die" before signing off: == Critical reception ==