THE PRISON AND THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION by Caleb Smith ( 9780300171495 )

Item Details

Title:

THE PRISON AND THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION

By:

Format:

Paperback

List price:	£25.00
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ISBN 10:

0300171498

ISBN 13:

9780300171495

Publisher:

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

1 April, 2011

Series:

Yale Studies in English

Pages:

272

Description:

Argues that the dehumanization inherent in captivity has always been at the heart of American civil society. This title shows how alienation and self-reliance, social death and spiritual rebirth, torture and penitence came together in the prison, a scene for the portrayal of both gothic nightmares and romantic dreams.

Synopsis:

How did a nation so famously associated with freedom become internationally identified with imprisonment? After the scandals of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and in the midst of a dramatically escalating prison population, the question is particularly urgent. In this timely, provocative study, Caleb Smith argues that the dehumanization inherent in captivity has always been at the heart of American civil society.Winner of the 2009 Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication or Research, sponsored by the Yale College Dean's Office."In Smith's haunting and incisive work-he writes beautifully-he wonders how a nation that has been obsessed by the idea of freedom from its outset could have become so identified with incarceration."-Jay Parini, Chronicle of Higher Education

Illustrations:

4 b-w illus.

Publication:

Imprint:

Yale University Press

Returns:

Returnable

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