Description
Book SynopsisThese essays, by writer-activists incarcerated because of their political beliefs and acts, offer some controversial and thought-provoking theories of contemporary social change and liberation movements.
Trade ReviewThe notion of 'political prisoners' is not widely accepted in the United States, and yet this country has had them. This extraordinary collection brings us their voices, their ideas, which have been muffled too long. These writers see American society with an acute understanding that people on the outside have a hard time matching. -- Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States and professor emeritus of Political Science, Boston University
The Jail is meant to be Cavernous, Bestial, Silence. Still the voices of imprisoned intellectuals leak out. Joy James' excellent volume demands our involvement in the struggle. -- Vijay Prashad, George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
An important collection. In these troubling times it is more important than ever to discover the subversive intellectualism of the incarcerated. -- Zillah Eisenstein
A unique and very significant contribution. -- Bettina Aptheker, University of California, Santa Cruz
A superb collection—both instructive and inspiring. Joy James is to be complimented for this book and for her thoughtful introductory essay. -- Dennis Brutus, poet and former political prisoner of South African Apartheid
In this extraordinary volume, James brings together the powerful voices of prison resistance, past and present, providing the intellectual foundations for a comparative approach to our understanding of criminal justice as a tool for political repression. Imprisoned Intellectuals creates a critical scholarly resource for interpreting criminal justice and its impact on race, gender, and class hierarchies of power. -- Manning Marable, M. Moran Weston/Black Alumni Council Professor of African-American Studies, Columbia University
A bracing, poignant, and finally edifying colloquy of voices whose power and eloquence speak nobly against the forces that unfairly imprison them. As this book makes clear, men and women unjustly imprisoned by the state may ultimately hold the key to our moral freedom through their courageous witness and brilliant analysis. In a society hell-bent on locking up some of its greatest citizens, Imprisoned Intellectuals is an inspiring intervention in a conversation that is critical to our very survival. -- Michael Eric Dyson, author of
Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture, and Religion
The voices in Imprisoned Intellectuals tear apart common assumptions about the impossibility of resistance and survival. * San Francisco Bay Guardian Literary Supplement *
James's book reminds the reader about the preciousness and tenuousness of freedom and liberty ... -- James E. Smith, University of Wyoming
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Prologue: "A New Declaration of Independence" Chapter 3 Introduction Part 4 I. Black Liberationists Chapter 5 1. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King, Jr. Chapter 6 2. "The Ballot or the Bullet" Malcolm X Chapter 7 3. "Political Prisoners, Prisons, and Black Liberation" Angela Y. Davis Chapter 8 4. "Prison, Where is Thy Victory" Huey P. Newton Chapter 9 5. "Towards the United Front" George Jackson Chapter 10 6. "COINTELPRO and the Destruction of Black Leaders and Organizations" (Abridged) Dhoruba bin Wahad Chapter 11 7. "On the Black Liberation Army" (Abridged) Jalil Muntaquim Chapter 12 8. "July 4th Address" Assata Shakur Chapter 13 9. "Coming of Age: A Black Revolutionary" Safiya Bukhari Chapter 14 10. "An Updated History of the New Afrikan Prison Struggle" (Abridged) Sundiata Acoli Chapter 15 11. "Anarchism and the Black Revolution" (Abridged) Lorenzo Komboa Ervin Chapter 16 12. "Intellectuals and the Gallows" Mumia Abu-Jamal Part 17 II. Internationalists and Anti-Imperialists Chapter 18 13. "Genocide Waged Against the Black Nation" Mutulu Shakur, Anthony Bradshaw, Malik Dinguswa, Terry D. Long, Mark Cook, Adolfo Matos, and James Haskins Chapter 19 14. "The Struggle for Status Under International Law" Marilyn Buck Chapter 20 15. "White North American Political Prisoners" Rita Bo Brown Chapter 21 16. "On Trial" (Abridged) Raymond Luc Levasseur Chapter 22 17. "Letter to the Weathermen" Daniel J. Berrigan, S.J. Chapter 23 18. "Maternal Convictions: A Mother Beats a Missile into a Plowshare" (Abridged) Michele Naar-Obed Chapter 24 19. "Dykes and Fags Want to Know: Interview with Lesbian Political Prisoners" (with QUISP)" Linda Evans, Susan Rosenberg, and Laura Whitehorn Chapter 25 20. "This Is Enough!" Jose Solis Jordan Chapter 26 21. "Art of Liberation: A Vision of Freedom" Elizam Escobar Chapter 27 22. "Violence and the State" Standing Deer Chapter 28 23. "Inipi: Sweat Lodge" Leonard Peltier Chapter 29 Epilogue: "Incommunicado: Dispatches From a Political Prisoner" A Poem by Marilyn Buck Chapter 30 Appendix: Internet Sites
