Imprisoned Intellectuals - (Transformative Politics Series, Ed. Joy James) by Joy James (Paperback)

About the Book

These 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.

Book Synopsis

These 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.

Review Quotes

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.

A superb collection-both instructive and inspiring. Joy James is to be complimented for this book and for her thoughtful introductory essay.

A unique and very significant contribution.

An important collection. In these troubling times it is more important than ever to discover the subversive intellectualism of the incarcerated.

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.

James's book reminds the reader about the preciousness and tenuousness of freedom and liberty ...

The 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.

The voices in Imprisoned Intellectuals tear apart common assumptions about the impossibility of resistance and survival.

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.

About the Author

Joy James is a professor in the Africana Studies Department at Brown University.