Download or read book Falling in Love with Fellow Prisoners written by Gwendolyn Zepeda and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Drive back and forth / A rush-hour tide / I strive to regain that feeling I felt / When I thought that this was worth it. / The drive is gray. / I cry." Gwendolyn Zepeda, a Houston native who has struggled to escape the inner-city barrio she grew up in, wonders why she's crying about her long commute to the suburbs. "I'm driving towards something I sure / Can't complain about, something my / Parents could never have had." Single with three sons, Zepeda made her way in corporate America, "the cold, beige womb of a money-grubbing mother," in the fight to provide them with better opportunities. Along the way, she has had to come to terms with the guilt of working in physical comfort while others work outside, trapped in dangerous jobs; the realization that the quality of her work doesn't really matter to anyone; and obnoxious male bosses who need "a wife on the side," or worse, proudly report their sons' sexual exploits. She's afraid, because "My whole life depends / On satisfying this man's needs ... My own son is my everything. He's the / Only reason I'm here now this / Afternoon listening to this man piss / Into my brain." She's an astute observer of people: her elders, full of bitterness; the stranger on the elevator, who exudes the smell of hate; the needy girl who's broken and screams like a bird in her ear so that "I turn and slip away. I've / Had my fill. I'm in the water / Where it's warm and deep and / She can't follow. / Goodbye. Good luck." She's compassionate and considerate, but Zepeda always chooses survival. She has survived, even prospered, but her innermost fears still haunt her: "I like lying safe with you / Here in the dark, but still / Keep planning in case / I'm left alone." Whether musing on dysfunctional relationships or parenthood, Gwendolyn Zepeda, the first Poet Laureate of Houston, captures the aching loneliness and vulnerability of contemporary urban life.
Download or read book While in the Hands of the Enemy written by Charles W. Sanders, Jr. and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2005-10-01 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the four years of the American Civil War, over 400,000 soldiers -- one in every seven who served in the Union and Confederate armies -- became prisoners of war. In northern and southern prisons alike, inmates suffered horrific treatment. Even healthy young soldiers often sickened and died within weeks of entering the stockades. In all, nearly 56,000 prisoners succumbed to overcrowding, exposure, poor sanitation, inadequate medical care, and starvation. Historians have generally blamed prison conditions and mortality rates on factors beyond the control of Union and Confederate command, but Charles W. Sanders, Jr., boldly challenges the conventional view and demonstrates that leaders on both sides deliberately and systematically ordered the mistreatment of captives.Sanders shows how policies developed during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War shaped the management of Civil War prisons. He examines the establishment of the major camps as well as the political motivations and rationale behind the operation of the prisons, focusing especially on Camp Douglas, Elmira, Camp Chase, and Rock Island in the North and Andersonville, Cahaba, Florence, and Danville in the South. Beyond a doubt, he proves that the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis purposely formulated and carried out retaliatory practices designed to harm prisoners of war, with each assuming harsher attitudes as the conflict wore on.Sanders cites official and personal correspondence from high-level civilian and military leaders who knew about the intolerable conditions but often refused to respond or even issued orders that made matters far worse. From such documents emerges a chilling chronicle of how prisoners came to be regarded not as men but as pawns to be used and then callously discarded in pursuit of national objectives. Yet even before the guns fell silent, Sanders reveals, both North and South were hard at work constructing elaborate justifications for their actions.While in the Hands of the Enemy offers a groundbreaking revisionist interpretation of the Civil War military prison system, challenging historians to rethink their understanding of nineteenth-century warfare.
Download or read book Death and Redemption written by Steven A. Barnes and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-04 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death and Redemption offers a fundamental reinterpretation of the role of the Gulag--the Soviet Union's vast system of forced-labor camps, internal exile, and prisons--in Soviet society. Soviet authorities undoubtedly had the means to exterminate all the prisoners who passed through the Gulag, but unlike the Nazis they did not conceive of their concentration camps as instruments of genocide. In this provocative book, Steven Barnes argues that the Gulag must be understood primarily as a penal institution where prisoners were given one final chance to reintegrate into Soviet society. Millions whom authorities deemed "reeducated" through brutal forced labor were allowed to leave. Millions more who "failed" never got out alive. Drawing on newly opened archives in Russia and Kazakhstan as well as memoirs by actual prisoners, Barnes shows how the Gulag was integral to the Soviet goal of building a utopian socialist society. He takes readers into the Gulag itself, focusing on one outpost of the Gulag system in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, a location that featured the full panoply of Soviet detention institutions. Barnes traces the Gulag experience from its beginnings after the 1917 Russian Revolution to its decline following the 1953 death of Stalin. Death and Redemption reveals how the Gulag defined the border between those who would reenter Soviet society and those who would be excluded through death.
Download or read book McGlue written by Ottessa Moshfegh and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The debut novella from one of contemporary fiction's most exciting young voices, now in a new edition. Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue is in the hold, still too drunk to be sure of name or situation or orientation--he may have killed a man. That man may have been his best friend. Intolerable memory accompanies sobriety. A-sail on the high seas of literary tradition, Ottessa Moshfegh gives us a nasty heartless blackguard on a knife-sharp voyage through the fogs of recollection. They said I've done something wrong? . . . And they've just left me down here to starve. They'll see this inanition and be so damned they'll fall to my feet and pass up hot cross buns slathered in fresh butter and beg I forgive them. All of them . . . : the entire world one by one. Like a good priest I'll pat their heads and nod. I'll dunk my skull into a barrel of gin.
Download or read book The Prisoner s Wife written by Maggie Brookes and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-05-26 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by the true story of a daring deception that plunges a courageous young woman deep into the horrors of a Nazi POW camp to be with the man she loves. In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for as long as possible—until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs. Izzy's disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun, as they face appalling living conditions and the constant fear of Izzy's exposure. But in the midst of danger and deprivation comes hope, for the young couple are befriended by a small group of fellow prisoners. These men become their new family, willing to jeopardize their lives to save Izzy from being discovered and shot. The Prisoner's Wife tells of an incredible risk, and of how our deepest bonds are tested in desperate times. Bill and Izzy's story is one of love and survival against the darkest odds.
Download or read book Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King and published by HarperOne. This book was released on 2025-01-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail," part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins. With an afterword by Reginald Dwayne Betts On April 16, 1923, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., responded to an open letter written and published by eight white clergyman admonishing the civil rights demonstrations happening in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King drafted his seminal response on scraps of paper smuggled into jail. King criticizes his detractors for caring more about order than justice, defends nonviolent protests, and argues for the moral responsibility to obey just laws while disobeying unjust ones. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" proclaims a message - confronting any injustice is an acceptable and righteous reason for civil disobedience. This beautifully designed edition presents Dr. King's speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.
Download or read book My Time Will Come written by Ian Manuel and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiring story of activist and poet Ian Manuel, who at the age of fourteen was sentenced to life in prison. He survived eighteen years in solitary confinement—through his own determination and dedication to art—until he was freed as part of an incredible crusade by the Equal Justice Initiative. “Ian is magic. His story is difficult and heartbreaking, but he takes us places we need to go to understand why we must do better. He survives by relying on a poetic spirit, an unrelenting desire to succeed, to recover, and to love. Ian’s story says something hopeful about our future.” —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy The United States is the only country in the world that sentences thirteen- and fourteen-year-old offenders, mostly youth of color, to life in prison without parole. In 1991, Ian Manuel, then fourteen, was sentenced to life without parole for a non-homicide crime. In a botched mugging attempt with some older boys, he shot a young white mother of two in the face. But as Bryan Stevenson, attorney and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, has insisted, none of us should be judged by only the worst thing we have ever done. Capturing the fullness of his humanity, here is Manuel’s powerful testimony of growing up homeless in a neighborhood riddled with poverty, gang violence, and drug abuse—and of his efforts to rise above his circumstances, only to find himself, partly through his own actions, imprisoned for two-thirds of his life, eighteen years of which were spent in solitary confinement. Here is the story of how he endured the savagery of the United States prison system, and how his victim, an extraordinary woman, forgave him and bravely advocated for his freedom, which was achieved by an Equal Justice Initiative push to address the barbarism of our judicial system and bring about “just mercy.” Full of unexpected twists and turns as it describes a struggle for redemption, My Time Will Come is a paean to the capacity of the human will to transcend adversity through determination and art—in Ian Manuel’s case, through his dedication to writing poetry.
Download or read book The Unvarnished Truth about the Prison Family Journey written by Carolyn Esparza and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One frantic call from the local jail catapults an entire family on a frightening journey that no family would wish to travel. Their traumatic journey encounters endless frustration and infuriating madness from which there is no escape. Millions of Americans are traumatized by the mass incarceration in this country. The Unvarnished Truth about the Prison Family Journey is an exceptional resource for prison families, as well as those serving them in the fields of criminal justice, education, ministry and mental health care. The authors have over fifty years combined personal and professional experience with the criminal justice system. They weave graphic personal, legal and emotional perspectives into a rare and boldly honest look at the realities faced by prison families. They offer encouragement and hope for successfully navigating the journey.
Download or read book FALLING FOR THE ENEMY written by Dawn Stewardson and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2011-07-15 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unavoidable liason… Every Tuesday, Hayley Morgan drops off her six-year-old son, Max, at the baby-sitter's, then drives the deserted stretch of highway south from New Orleans to the maximum security prison where she works. Every Tuesday, Max waits out front at the baby-sitter's, eager for Hayley to return. One Tuesday, the routine isn't quite so smooth. Because Max disappears. He's been abducted. But there's one man—lawyer Slade Reeves—who can help her. He's Hayley's only link to Max. She knows she has to trust him, although he appears to be invovled with Max's kidnapping. Even worse, she starts falling for Slade…falling for the enemy.
Download or read book The Magdalen written by James Sheridan Knowles and published by . This book was released on 1835 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Man s Search For Meaning written by Viktor E Frankl and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-12-09 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 16 million copies sold worldwide 'Every human being should read this book' Simon Sinek One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.
Download or read book The Tattooist of Auschwitz written by Heather Morris and published by Bonnier Zaffre Ltd.. This book was released on 2018-02-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible story of the Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist and the woman he loved. Lale Sokolov is well-dressed, a charmer, a ladies' man. He is also a Jew. On the first transport of men from Slovakia to Auschwitz in 1942, Lale immediately stands out to his fellow prisoners. In the camp, he is looked up to, looked out for, and put to work in the privileged position of Tatowierer - the tattooist - to mark his fellow prisoners, forever. One of them is a young woman, Gita, who steals his heart at first glance. His life given new purpose, Lale does his best through the struggle and suffering to use his position for good. This story, full of beauty and hope, is based on years of interviews author Heather Morris conducted with real-life Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov. It is heart-wrenching, illuminating, and unforgettable. 'Morris climbs into the dark miasma of war and emerges with an extraordinary tale of the power of love' - Leah Kaminsky
Download or read book Chicken Soup for the Prisoner s Soul written by Jack Canfield and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previously available only through free distribution to prisons, this life-changing book is the result of charitable donations from sales of Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul and gifts from thousands of individuals.
Download or read book If We Were Villains written by M. L. Rio and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Much like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest "Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare...Readable, smart.” —New York Times Book Review On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it. A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras. But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent. If We Were Villains was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and Mystery Scene says, "A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth."
Download or read book Concrete Mama written by John A. McCoy and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journalists John McCoy and Ethan Hoffman spent four months inside the walls of the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla in 1978, just as Washington, once a leader in prison reform, abandoned its focus on reform and rehabilitation and returned to cell time and punishment. It was a brutal transition. McCoy and Hoffman roamed the maximum-security compound almost at will, observing and befriending prisoners and guards. The result is a striking depiction of a community in which there was little to do, much to fear, and a culture that both mimicked and scorned the outside world. McCoy’s unadorned prose and Hoffman’s stunning black-and-white photographs offer as authentic a portrayal of life in the Big House as “outsiders” are ever likely to experience. Originally published in 1981, Concrete Mama revealed a previously unseen stark and complex world of life on the inside, for which it won the Washington State Book Award. Long unavailable yet still relevant, it is revitalized in a second edition with an introduction by scholar Dan Berger that provides historical context for the book's ongoing resonance, along with several previously unpublished photographs.
Download or read book Death on Hold written by Burton Folsom and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In January 1983 Burt Folsom read a story in Time about Mitch Rutledge, a man on death row with an IQ of 84 who said he was sorry for what he did. "Forget him," the last line of the story read. But Burt wrote Mitch a letter and discovered a man more interesting and intelligent than the article revealed. Burt and his wife, Anita, began a friendship with Mitch and saw him become a leader and role model for others in prison, teaching himself to read and write (starting with copying down the spelling of items he knew from TV commercials) and becoming a national spokesman on prison life. Death on Hold is the amazing story of their friendship, and of grace, reconciliation, and redemption for a man without hope who was given a future.
Download or read book The Novel in Letters written by Natascha Würzbach and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-28 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1969, The Novel in Letters is a collection of nine novels in letters, representative of certain tendencies in narrative technique and subject-matter between 1678 and 1740. The editor shows how the narrative attitude of the letter writer, his humorous or sentimental viewpoint, give the events the flavour of personal experience. Motifs such as the arranged betrothal, or the gradual decline of an innocent girl to a common whore thus become more immediate. The increasing importance of the narrator, the use of the point-of-view technique, sentimental analysis, and a new interest in characterisation through direct or indirect self-revelation, all mark the transition from the romance to the ‘realistic novel.’ In the introduction, the editor traces the structure of the epistolary novel back to the sub-literary forms which it most resembles and illustrates how the novel is rooted in journalism and other forms of non-literary writing such as the genuine letter, the diary, autobiography, manuals and didactic literature. There is also an examination of the problem of differentiating between historical reality and literary fiction. This book will be of interest to students and teachers of literature.
