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Are Prisons Obsolete?

by Angela Y. Davis
Are Prisons Obsolete?

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ISBN13: 9781583225813
ISBN10: 1583225811



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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. Similarly, the entrenched system of racial segregation seemed to last forever, and generations lived in the midst of the practice, with few predicting its passage from custom. The brutal, exploitative (dare one say lucrative?) convict-lease system that succeeded formal slavery reaped millions to southern jurisdictions (and untold miseries for tens of thousands of men and women). Few predicted its passing from the American penal landscape. Davis expertly argues how social movements transformed these social, political and cultural institutions, and made such practices untenable.

In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration", and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.

Review

“[Davis’s] arguments are well wrought and restrained, leveling an unflinching critique of how and why more than 2 million Americans are presently behind bars, and the corporations who profit from their suffering.” Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia)

Review

“...Davis challenges us to confront the human rights catastrophe in our jails and prisons. As she so convincingly argues, the contemporary U.S. practice of super-incarceration is closer to new age slavery than to any recognizable system of 'criminal justice.” Mike Davis, author of Dead Cities and City of Quartz

About the Author

Angela Yvonne Davis has been active in numerous organizations challenging prison-related repression. Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1944, Davis studied at Brandeis University, the Sorbonne, and with Herbert Marcuse at the Goethe Institute. Her advocacy on behalf of political prisoners, and her alleged connection to the Marin County courthouse incident, led to three capital charges, sixteen months in jail awaiting trial, and a highly publicized acquittal in 1972. In 1998, Davis was one of the twenty-five organizers of the historic Berkeley, California conference “Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex.” She is the author of many books, including Are Prisons Obsolete? and The Meaning of Freedom. She currently teaches in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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Average customer rating 5 (1 comments)

`
tgrang13 , April 23, 2012 (view all comments by tgrang13)
Wow, I can't believe that I am the first person to review this. Where is everybody? This is an awesome book, written by an awesome woman. For anyone who is interested in an introductory course in the prison-industrial complex, and even if your not (you will be if you read this), you need to read this! It is a quick, easy read. Only a 110 pages or something like that, but it is jammed pack with incite and thought provoking truth! It is a must read for anyone who is interested in the social sciences or anything regarding prison. Very inspiring, highly recommended.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9781583225813
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
08/05/2003
Publisher:
SEVEN STORIES PRESS
Series info:
Open Media
Pages:
128
Height:
.40IN
Width:
5.00IN
Thickness:
.25
Series:
Open media book
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2003
Series Volume:
114
UPC Code:
2801583225815
Author:
Angela Y. Davis
Media Run Time:
B
Subject:
Criminals
Subject:
Prisons
Subject:
Crime-Enforcement and Investigation
Subject:
Poor
Subject:
Alternatives to imprisonment
Subject:
Prisons -- United States.
Subject:
Corrections
Subject:
Prisoners -- United States.

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