Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary.

Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary by Jasmine Guy Atria Books, February 2004 $25.00, ISBN 0-743-47053-2

Some biography subjects are smart, rich, powerful or lucky. They inspire. Not Afeni Shakur; mother of Tupac, the rap star and actor fatally shot in 1996. This biography arouses no envy, although one must acknowledge Shakur's resilience.

Born in Lumberton, North Carolina, as Alice Faye Williams, she came to New York City when she was 11 and studied at Bronx High School of Science. The book traces her attraction to the Black Panther Party and her life in it.

The party "took my rage and channeled it. They educated my mind and gave me direction," she told Guy. New York law enforcement's anti-Panther crusade climaxed on April 2, 1969, with the arrest of party members, including Shakur, and subsequent indictment of 21. On trial, Shakur acted as her own attorney, questioning witnesses and presenting a dosing argument. She was ultimately acquitted.

The author, Guy, an actress who met Shakur in 1994, unaccountably places herself prominently in this skimpy, 209 page, biography. Consequently, there are large and small gaps in Shakur's story. Large: her relationship with Mutulu Shakur, her daughter's father. Small: Shakur's birthdate (January 10, 1947), which is found in the 1971 story of 16 New York Black Panthers, Look for Me in the Whirlwind: The Collective Biography of the New York 21. (Random House). In that book the Panthers recorded their life stories. Several pages in the Guy work read like slightly reworked versions of Shakur narrations in Look for Me. However, nothing diminishes Afeni Shakur's personal triumph.

--Reviewed by C. Gerald Fraser C. Gerald Fraser is a writer in New York City.