Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement

The mentality and operational priorities of the FBI have remained constant despite the supposed "reforms" it underwent during the last 1970s.  In light of the Homeland Security Act, a measure which formally sanctions many of the worst abuses in which the Bureau engaged a generation ago, every activist in the country should become intimately acquainted with the experiences of the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement.  

Written by a key AIM member and one of its most knowledgeable supporters, Agents of Repression, features one of the best histories of the FBI siege of Wounded Knee. The 1973 attack resulted in Peltier's imprisonment. The book also provides a well-written synthesis of the FBI efforts against the Black Panthers.

The lawlessness wreaked on The Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement by agencies of the U.S. government - the murders, assaults, spying, frame-ups and the illegal imprisonments of innocent people should never be forgotten.  Agents of Repression and The COINTELPRO Papers ensure that the memory of this troubled period is recorded with accuracy and the rigorous detail it deserves.  The 2022 Black Classic Press editions of these two important works contain a new introductory retrospective by author Ward Churchill detailing the history of both books and significant related events that have occurred since their original publication.  

Reviews:

"When Agents of Repression first came out, it was like a bombshell, proving that our worst suspicions about the FBI had been correct all along. We started calling it "The Book." -- Kathleen Cleaver, former Communications Secretary, Black Panther Party

"This study gives a chilling account of the government attack against AIM and the Black Panthers, placed in the context of the traditional use of the FBI for domestic political repression. It is a powerful indictment, with far-reaching implications." -- Noam Chomsky

About the Authors:

Ward Churchill is an American author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1990 until 2007. The primary focus of his work focuses the historical treatment of political dissenters and Native Americans by the United States government. He was a member of the Governing Council of the Colorado chapter of the American Indian Movement. Among his two dozen books are Wielding Words Like Weapons, Pacifism as Pathology, and Kill the Indian, Save the Man.

Jim Vander Wall is an active supporter of indigenous people's sovereignty, and has written several articles on FBI counterintelligence operations.