Synopsis: In 1972, Will Campbell published an issue of the
Committee of Southern Churchmen's journal, Katallagete, to shed
light on the US prison system. None could anticipate how the system
would expand exponentially in the next four decades. Today, the US
operates the world's largest prison system, incarcerating nearly 1
in every 100 American adults. How did this expansion happen? What
is the human toll of this retributive system? How might
"ambassadors of reconciliation" respond to such a punitive
institution? Replicating the firsthand nature of Will Campbell's
original Katallagete collection, twenty new essays pull back the
veil on today's prison-industrial complex. The plea throughout this
collection is not for some better, more progressive institution to
exact justice. Rather, the invitation is to hear from voices of
experience how the system functions, listen to what the institution
does to those locked in its cells, consider what an execution
involves, and, most importantly, contemplate the scandalous call to
be in reconciled community with those whom society discards and the
system silences. Our story is that there are neither good nor bad
people, neither felon nor free world. We are all one. Endorsements:
"Back in 1973, Will Campbell saw that our retributive justice
system was an affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Four decades
later, ten times as many people are behind bars, and millions of
others have been labeled 'convicted felons' for life. The only
power great enough to overcome our prison-industrial complex is the
power that raised Jesus from the dead. Thank God, that power is
alive and well--both in these essays and in our world." --Jonathan
Wilson-Hartgrove, author of The Awakening of Hope "The work of
Campbell and Goode has more intellectual rigor, moral integrity,
creative originality, and spiritual passion than anything I have
encountered in my thirteen years of doing prison work . . . Read
these testimonials and you will never again wonder why anyone
should care about the lives of those incarcerated." --Jody Lewen,
Executive Director of the Prison University Project and Director of
Patten University at San Quentin "This collection of essays
presents a range of voices and critical perspectives on America's
system of mass incarceration. Its notable strengths include the
thoughtful pieces by incarcerated men and women and the historical
perspective gained by including older essays with recent
scholarship. This book makes a clear, honest, and smart case for
radical reappraisal of the practice of imprisonment. It deserves a
wide audience among those who care about violence and justice."
--Rebecca Ginsburg, Director of the Education Justice Project,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Editor Biography: Will
D. Campbell was a Baptist preacher in Taylor, Louisiana, for two
years before taking the position of Director of Religious Life at
the University of Mississippi from 1954 to 1956. Forced to leave
the university because of his ardent Civil Rights participation,
Campbell served on the National Council of Churches as a race
relations consultant. Campbell worked closely with the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Andrew Young toward bettering race
relations. Campbell's Brother to a Dragonfly earned him the Lillian
Smith Prize, the Christopher Award, and a National Book Award
nomination. The Glad River won a first-prize award from the Friends
of American Writers in 1982. His works have also won a Lyndhurst
Prize and an Alex Haley Award. Richard Goode is Professor of
History at Lipscomb University. He edited Will Campbell's Writings
on Reconciliation and Resistance (Cascade, 2010) and authored with
Will Campbell Crashing the Idols (Cascade, 2010).
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