Are Prisons Obsolete?: An Open Media BookWith 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 |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - ASKelmore - LibraryThingBest for: Those looking for a quick introduction to prison abolition. In a nutshell: Scholar Angela Y. Davis provides, through six dense chapters, an overview of the problem with prison as the default ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - addict - LibraryThingIn this brilliant, thoroughly researched book, Angela Davis swings a wrecking ball into the racist and sexist underpinnings of the American prison system. Her arguments are well wrought and restrained ... Read full review
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Are Prisons Obsolete?: An Open Media Book |
| Author | Angela Y. Davis |
| Edition | large print |
| Publisher | ReadHowYouWant, 2010 |
| ISBN | 1458786420, 9781458786425 |
| Length | 160 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |