“Providing a detailed, scholarly connection among the institutionalization of lynching, capital punishment, the escalation of the imprisonment of Black youth, and the imprisonment of Black political activists, Loss of Empire presents an intellectual and political challenge to Black public intellectuals and political leaders whose political rhetoric unveils their compromising acceptance of the social, economic, and political control of the Black citizen as well as these high-profile leaders’ relationship to White class privilege. This book provides a most cogent argument for why the destructive nature of capitalism in America will remain intact until we fully grasp the presence of slavery in our national consciousness and understand how this presence manifests in contemporary legal, social, economic, and political systems.” --Joyce A. Joyce, Professor, English Department, Temple University Author, Black Studies as Human Studies: Critical Essays and Interviews “Historically, the erosion of empire runs concurrent with an abuse of influence and the selling off of one’s most valued assets. For America, it is its abuse of power, nationally and overseas coupled with the export of its production and labor. Having spent its race card, black leadership gropes, eyes wide, relegated to two-party partisanship. Leadership bereft of power is not leadership – Sharpton, Jackson, et. al., are spokesmen at best, pandering African American community aspirations. Gaither adroitly examines parallel trajectories of power, inexorably tied, and hurtling towards their lowest points in history.” --Max Rodriguez, Quarterly Black Book Review, Founder of Harlem Book Fair “Passionately argued and beautifully written, L.V. Gaither has produced an enlightening and stimulating book that is essential reading for our times.” --Gerald Horne, Author, Red Seas: Ferdinand Smith & Radical Black Sailors in the U.S. and Jamaica.