The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration

This book tells the story of mass Incarceration in America through the writers who experienced it first-hand. It begins at mid-century with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, whose insights about racism and the criminal justice system warned of what was to come. It takes off in the 1960s and 1970s with revolutionary writers like George Jackson, Assata Shakur, and Mumia Abu-Jamal, seeking liberation not just from prison but the oppressive structure of society that sustains it. It evolves in the post-revolutionary era with witnesses like Wilbert Rideau, Jack Henry Abbott, and Jimmy Santiago Baca, seeking self-determination and justice from these increasingly cavernous prison warehouses. And it ends with the stories of survivors like Shaka Senghor, Jarvis Masters, and Susan Burton in the 21st century seeking healing from the psychological trauma that led to prison as well as the trauma of prison.

Author: David Coogan
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10/02/2025
Series: Cambridge Companions to Literature
Pages: 354
Weight: 1.04lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.79d
ISBN: 9781009655446