{"product_id":"reading-prisoners-literature-literacy-and-the-transformation-of-american-punishment-1700-1845-hardcover","title":"Reading Prisoners: Literature, Literacy, and the Transformation of American Punishment, 1700-1845 - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJodi Schorb\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShining new light on early American prison literature--from its origins in last words, dying warnings, and gallows literature to its later works of autobiography, exposé, and imaginative literature--\u003ci\u003eReading Prisoners\u003c\/i\u003e weaves together insights about the rise of the early American penitentiary, the history of early American literacy instruction, and the transformation of crime writing in the \"long\" eighteenth century. \u003cbr\u003eLooking first at colonial America--an era often said to devalue jailhouse literacy--Jodi Schorb reveals that in fact this era launched the literate prisoner into public prominence. Criminal confessions published between 1700 and 1740, she shows, were crucial \"literacy events\" that sparked widespread public fascination with the reading habits of the condemned, consistent with the evangelical revivalism that culminated in the first Great Awakening. By century's end, narratives by condemned criminals helped an audience of new writers navigate the perils and promises of expanded literacy.\u003cbr\u003eSchorb takes us off the scaffold and inside the private world of the first penitentiaries--such as Philadelphia's Walnut Street Prison and New York's Newgate, Auburn, and Sing Sing. She unveils the long and contentious struggle over the value of prisoner education that ultimately led to sporadic efforts to supply prisoners with books and education. Indeed, a new philosophy emerged, one that argued that prisoners were best served by silence and hard labor, not by reading and writing--a stance that a new generation of convict authors vociferously protested.\u003cbr\u003eThe staggering rise of mass incarceration in America since the 1970s has brought the issue of prisoner rehabilitation once again to the fore. \u003ci\u003eReading Prisoners\u003c\/i\u003e offers vital background to the ongoing, crucial debates over the benefits of prisoner education.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJODI SCHORB is an assistant professor of English at the University of Florida.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 256\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.75 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 30, 2014\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52960372031795,"sku":"9780813562674","price":123.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/hyJ1vp1uYR9780813562674.webp?v=1768485209","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/reading-prisoners-literature-literacy-and-the-transformation-of-american-punishment-1700-1845-hardcover","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}