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Alcatraz: The Gangster Years
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Alcatraz: The Gangster Years Paperback - 2009

by David a. Ward; Contribution by Gene Kassebaum


From the publisher

Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Alvin Karpis, "Dock" Barker--these were just a few of the legendary "public enemies" for whom America's first supermax prison was created. In Alcatraz: The Gangster Years, David Ward brings their stories to life, along with vivid accounts of the lives of other infamous criminals who passed through the penitentiary from 1934 to 1948. Ward, who enjoyed unprecedented access to FBI, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and Federal Parole records, conducted interviews with one hundred former Alcatraz convicts, guards, and administrators to produce this definitive history of "The Rock." Alcatraz is the only book with authoritative answers to questions that have swirled about the prison: How did prisoners cope psychologically with the harsh regime? What provoked the protests and strikes? How did security flaws lead to the sensational escape attempts? And what happened when these "habitual, incorrigible" convicts were finally released? By shining a light on the most famous prison in the world, Ward also raises timely questions about today's supermax prisons.

From the rear cover

"Ward has collected the most impressive documentation anywhere on the workings of a prison. A unique and wonderful work of sociology and history."--Howard Becker, author of Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance and Art Worlds

"This groundbreaking history of the country's most notorious prison is the first to give an in-depth analysis of the interaction between the guards and the prisoners. Ward captures the Alcatraz experience with the accuracy of someone who has practically been there and lays to rest many of the myths that have grown up around the prison. No longer will the story-tellers be able to describe the inmates as 'the worst of the worst' without qualification. Their individual stories come alive as the author records the varied life experiences that brought them to Alcatraz and describes their coping mechanisms. A unique and fascinating study."--Morton Sobell, Alcatraz Inmate #AZ699 1950-1963, author of On Doing Time

Details

  • Title Alcatraz: The Gangster Years
  • Author David a. Ward; Contribution by Gene Kassebaum
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: first
  • Pages 584
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of California Press
  • Date 2009-05-19
  • ISBN 9780520265967 / 0520265963
  • Weight 1.75 lbs (0.79 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.7 x 5.6 x 1.5 in (22.10 x 14.22 x 3.81 cm)
  • Themes
    • Aspects (Academic): Historical
    • Chronological Period: 1930's
    • Chronological Period: 1940's
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: Northern California
    • Cultural Region: Western U.S.
    • Cultural Region: West Coast
    • Geographic Orientation: California
    • Locality: San Francisco, California
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2008021232
  • Dewey Decimal Code 365.979

About the author

David Ward is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. He is the coauthor (with Gene Kassebaum) of Prison Treatment and Parole Survival and coeditor (with Kenneth Schoen) of Confinement in Maximum Custody: New Last-Resort Prisons in the United States and Europe. Ward served as consultant to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary for an investigation at Alcatraz's successor, the Federal Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, and is a member of a consultant group investigating prison gang policies in the California Department of Corrections. Gene Kassebaum is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Hawaii and has also coauthored with Ward, Women's Prison: Sex and Social Structure.
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Alcatraz : The Gangster Years

Alcatraz : The Gangster Years

by David Ward

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Alcatraz: The Gangster Years
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Alcatraz: The Gangster Years

by David Ward; Gene Kassebaum

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University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 2009. First Edition. Softcover. Very Good Condition. Illustrator: Photographic. Preface By Author, Acknowledgements, Introduction: Reconstructing the Life of a Prison, notes, bibliographic commentary, about the authors and index. The text is illustrated with illustrated with 3 black-and-white photographic sections totalling 32 pages. Photographic paperback binding with black and white coloured titles to the front panel and back strip. In this book the author details the famous (or should that be infamous) criminals who passed through Alcatraz's doors through the years 1934 to 1948. Also included are the lesser-known criminals. The rollcall includes such luminaries as Al Capone, Robert Stroud – The Birdman of Alcatraz, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Alvin Karpis. Creasing of the book corners and there is a little lifting of the laminate along the front book edge. Some stains to the front text edge. Full number… Read More
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