The Prison and the American Imagination

How did a nation so famously associated with freedom become internationallyidentified with imprisonment? After the scandals of Abu Ghraib and GuantanamoBay and ... » 

How did a nation so famously associated with freedom become internationallyidentified with imprisonment? After the scandals of Abu Ghraib and GuantanamoBay and in the midst of a dramatically escalating prison population thequestion is particularly urgent. In this timely provocative study Caleb Smithargues that the dehumanization inherent in captivity has always been at theheart of American civil society. Exploring legal political and literarytextsincluding the works of Dickinson Melville and EmersonSmith shows howalienation and selfreliance social death and spiritual rebirth torture andpenitence came together in the prison a scene for the portrayal of both gothicnightmares and romantic dreams. Demonstrating how the cellular soul hasendured since the antebellum age The Prison and the American Imaginationoffers a passionate and haunting critique of the very idea of solitude inAmerican life. «