Praise for Solitary: FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL
NONFICTION FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION Named
One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2019 Winner of the Stowe
Prize Named the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Book of the
Year Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, the
Washington Post, NPR, Publishers Weekly, BookBrowse, and Literary
Hub Winner of the BookBrowse Award for Best Debut of 2019 A New
York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "An uncommonly powerful
memoir about four decades in confinement . . . A profound book
about friendship . . . Woodfox reminds us, in Solitary, of the tens
of thousands of men, women, and children in solitary confinement in
the United States. This is torture of a modern variety. If the
ending of this book does not leave you with tears pooling down in
your clavicles, you are a stronger person than I am. More lasting
is Woodfox's conviction that the American justice system is in dire
need of reform."--Dwight Garner, New York Times "A candid,
heartbreaking, and infuriating chronicle . . . as well as a
personal narrative that shows how institutionalized racism festered
at the core of our judicial system and in the country's prisons . .
. It's impossible to read Solitary and not feel anger . . . A
timely memoir of that experience that should be required reading in
the age of the Black Lives Matter movement. It's also a story of
conviction and humanity that shows some spirits are
unbreakable."--NPR "Heart-rending . . . Solitary is Woodfox's
pointillist account of an already boxed-in childhood and
adolescence in the streets of New Orleans--by his own admission, an
existence marked by ignorance and devoted to petty and increasingly
serious crime--and the near entirety of an intellectually and
spiritually expansive adulthood spent in one of the most brutal
prisons in the country (and therefore the world) . . . Some of the
most touching writing on platonic male friendship I have every
encountered . . . 'We must imagine Sisyphus happy, ' Camus famously
wrote, and such a prompt is the ennobling virtue at the core of
Solitary. It lifts the book above mere advocacy or even memoir and
places it in the realm of stoic philosophy."--Thomas Chatterton
Williams, New York Times Book Review "Wrenching, sometimes numbing,
sometimes almost physically painful to read. You want to turn away,
put the book down: Enough, no more! But you can't, because after
forty-plus years, the very least we owe Woodfox is attention to his
story . . . [Solitary's] moral power is so overwhelming . . .
Solitary should make every reader writhe with shame and ask: What
am I going to do to help change this?"--Washington Post "Solitary
is evidence of Woodfox's extraordinary mental resilience in the
face of relentless state cruelty. The pacing is brisk, with brief
stops to reflect on the United States' mass incarceration of black
people, Woodfox's black identity, and his personal philosophy, much
of it centered on the Black Panther Party's 10-Point Program. Woven
together, these strands form an indictment of the U.S. criminal
justice system that should be read for generations."--Globe and
Mail "We have had the opportunity to read a new book called
Solitary by Albert Woodfox. Anyone who believes in capital
punishment should read it . . . We should consider the story of
Albert Woodfox. How can you call for the death penalty when you
know an innocent man could be in the gallows? Is that risk
civilized society can take? Not here, not now. Not ever
again."--Art Cullen, Storm Lake Times "[Woodfox's] incredible story
is necessary reading, not only to understand our era of mass
incarceration, but the entire history of the judicial system in
America."--Town & Country "In this devastating, superb memoir,
Woodfox reflects on his decades inside the Louisiana prison system
. . . The book is a stunning indictment of a judicial system 'not
concerned with innocence or justice, ' and a crushing account of
the inhumanity of solitary confinement. This breathtaking, brutal,
and intelligent book will move and inspire readers."--Publishers
Weekly (starred review) "In beautifully poetic language that
starkly contrasts the world he's describing, Woodfox awes and
inspires. He illustrates the power of the human spirit, while
illuminated the dire need for prison reform in the United States.
Solitary is a beautiful blend of passion, terror, and hope that
everyone needs to experience."--Shelf Awareness (starred review) "A
man who spent four decades in solitary confinement for a crime he
did not commit tells his shocking story . . . Woodfox explains how
he overcame [brutal conditions] despite relentless despair . . . An
important story for these times . . . An astonishing true saga of
incarceration that would have surely faced rejection if submitted
as a novel on the grounds that it could never happen in real
life."--Kirkus Reviews "Solitary is an astounding story and makes
clear the inhumanity of solitary confinement. How Albert Woodfox
maintained his compassion and sense of hope throughout his ordeal
is both amazing and inspiring."--Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped
from the Beginning, winner of the National Book Award "Sage,
profound and deeply humane, Albert Woodfox has authored an American
testament. Solitary is not simply an indictment of the cruelties,
absurdities and hypocrisies of the criminal justice system, it is a
call to conscience for all who have allowed these acts to be done
in our name."--Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope "A man
who would not be broken. Not by more than 40 years of solitary in
Angola, not by maddening injustice in courts, not by beatings,
isolation, or loneliness. Albert's courage, wisdom, and kindness
will inspire all who fight for social justice and have the good
sense to read this book."--Barry Scheck, Co-Founder of the
Innocence Project "Albert Woodfox's extraordinary life story is
both an inspiring triumph of the human spirit and a powerful call
for the necessity of prison reform."--Van Jones, President of the
Dream Corps and Host of CNN's "The Van Jones Show" "Albert Woodfox
shares his coming-of-age story with crystal clear-eyed perspective,
holding nothing back as he unwraps the unvarnished truth of his
life. Deftly weaving the undeniable threads of race, class, and
systemic inequities that made his story--and so many similar
ones--possible, his journey of resilience, perseverance, growth,
and triumph is at once a cautionary tale, a challenge to all we
think we know about the justice system, and an inspiring testimony
to the power of the human spirit."--Reverend Leah Daughtry,
co-author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics
"Solitary is the stunning record of a hero's journey. In it a
giant, Albert Woodfox, carries us boldly and without apology
through the powerful, incredibly painful yet astonishingly
inspiring story of a life lived virtually in chains. He is, as
readers will learn, a 'Man of Steel.' Every white person in America
must read this book. It should be required reading for every
advocate of 'law and order, ' every prosecutor, every warden, every
prison guard and every police officer in America. It should be
taught in every law school and every political science class. And
any 'public servant' currently holding a local, state or federal
office who refuses to read it should step down. As a citizen of the
United States, this book embarrasses me deeply. And it makes me
furious."--Mike Farrell, author of Just Call Me Mike and Of Mule
and Man
General
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