Fourth City: Essays from the Prison in America

This dense anthology of essays locates its foundational stance in “the American prison writer as witness,” and claims that only these voices “can testify to whether the largest prison system on earth doles out punishment in the service or at the expense of justice.” Organized into sections such as “Seeking Peace in Prison City” and “Inside Justice and Injustice,” the collection continuously seeks to directly engage with the daily reality of prison life. The essays cover a range of perspectives and tones—from entitled to remorseful, objective to passionate. Readers hear from a “forty-six-year-old pre-hormone, pre-op, MTF (male-to-female) transsexual,” as well as from “a bread and water vegan.” One prisoner uses writing to uncover the childhood roots of his anger, while a mother who killed the abuser of her children, writes: “Punish me, not my children.” As editor Larson warns, in regards to the grim material, these stories are marked with “the chaotic, dehumanizing, and at times violent experience of prison.” At times, the call to justice cannot help but seem ironic given the population testifying. Overall, the book offers readers a clear view through many windows into this “Prison City.” (Dec.)