I think had I read this at a different time in my life, I would have been more moved. Having read Angela Davis’ work on prisons before getting to MariI think had I read this at a different time in my life, I would have been more moved. Having read Angela Davis’ work on prisons before getting to Mariame Kaba…and then having read Kaba’s work before reading this…a lot of it was familiar. There’s still great stuff to chew on. I love how Kaba allows herself to question her thoughts, to be moved by others, to grow. It sets a standard for activism. Her work has greatly influenced me. I was hoping this would be a roadmap to carceral abolition but it’s not and Kaba does a great job of engaging the why. A good primer for those unfamiliar with her work and/or prison abolition. ...more
John Grisham here writing a Don Winslow-esque multi-generational crime epic, the kind of books I love. This one's set in Biloxi, Mississippi. Would haJohn Grisham here writing a Don Winslow-esque multi-generational crime epic, the kind of books I love. This one's set in Biloxi, Mississippi. Would have liked it a little more pulpy and the character development is lacking but the environment is great and if these kinds of books are your thing (as they most definitely are mine) you'll enjoy it. ...more
As always, I renew my objection that there aren't more books about the Warren Harding administration. Ludicrously corrupt politics amidst the backgrouAs always, I renew my objection that there aren't more books about the Warren Harding administration. Ludicrously corrupt politics amidst the background of the Roaring 20s? Come on, now. Anyway, I was hoping this would cover Harding more but instead, it focused on Harry Daugherty and his dirty deeds. And that's fine. It was still a readable, fascinating look at Burt Wheeler's pursuit of justice, imperfect though it was. Daugherty and his ilk were worse than even I knew through the Teapot Dome scandal and Nathan Masters brings all the juicy details of Wheeler's crusade. He also wrote at length on something I didn't know: the DOJ bringing trumped up federal charges against Wheeler. What a mess. He also touches on the fact that Wheeler was by no means some sort of super hero crusader: he relied on embellishment and innuendo and spent his final years in office stumping for Charles Lindbergh's anti-Semitic America First party before and during WWII. Anyway, this is an easy-to-read look at a political corruption scandal in the US that should be better known. ...more
Maybe one of the best books I read this year…but also became far too unfocused near the end. And yet, I liked the epilogue almost enough to make that Maybe one of the best books I read this year…but also became far too unfocused near the end. And yet, I liked the epilogue almost enough to make that point moot. So.
I don’t know.
I’ll lift up: this reminded me of why I appreciated “The Handmaids Tale”: the horror of navigating patriarchal systems is usually a more compelling read than focusing on the system itself (something the show doesn’t seem to understand). Yeah, our protagonist goes over-the-top to “fit in” and some of her decisions made me roll my eyes. But “Erica Katz” really does give the reader a full and complete picture of how subtly (at least until near the end) men dominate the world, here seen through the lens of a prestigious law firm.
I’ll be thinking about it for a while. For now, this review will have to suffice. ...more
There’s an overabundance of text written about John Gotti, which is kind of wild when one considers he reigned as the head of the Gambino Crime FamilyThere’s an overabundance of text written about John Gotti, which is kind of wild when one considers he reigned as the head of the Gambino Crime Family for barely five years. Hell, the man was even one of the last subjects of Andy Warhol’s legendary career. His bombastic, publicity-hunting personality made him the most compelling mobster in the public eye since Al Capone but if you subtract that context, he was an uninspiring thug in a bureaucrat’s job (albeit the bureaucracy of a criminal syndicate) who was basically begging to get caught.
One angle that hadn’t yet been captured in books is the legal quest to put Gotti behind bars. John Gleeson prosecuted Gotti at the beginning of his reign and led the final prosecution that brought him down. Gleeson takes the reader through the nuances of building each case, the challenges that came with prosecuting Gotti, and the mob by extension. Parts of it read like a compelling legal thriller; even when I knew what was going to happen, I was still gripping the page. Parts of it read like a law professor who’s not quite equipped to disseminate complex legal terms to layfolk such as I.
About 10-15% of it is griping either about the tactics of the defense teams or the constraints of the justice system. And it’s here, as in Boss of Bosses, that I have to call bullshirt. When the federal government decides they want to “fight crime,” they look at the biggest targets available, be they drug lords or mafia chiefs or torrent kings. It’s questionable whether or not this strategy works to actually mitigate crime. Certainly, the mafia is less profitable in the States than it used to be but it ain’t as if the same crimes they were doing haven’t been gobbled up by other gangsters, save maybe gambling.
And that leads to a bigger problem, kind of with this book but really with the System in general: I’ve downed a lot of mafia stuff lately. That’s on top of the stuff I’ve already read. And it’s really tough not to discern a WASP-driven bias against a group of people that are first/second/third generation immigrants. Of course, Italian-Americans, Greek-Americans and Jews were part of the Gotti prosecution and yeah, Gotti and his mob cohorts did a lot of objectively evil stuff. But the tenor with which they need to “get these guys”…I dunno. It just feels like a lot of public villainization as if this group of Italian-Americans are the source of most or all crime in America. And this book, while enlightening, still carries a whiff of that.
At any rate, it’s an interesting read and folks curious about the mob and/or criminal justice should check it out....more
I feel like I’m the last person in my circle to have not read Michelle Alexander’s landmark work The New Jim Crow. It’s one of those books I’d always I feel like I’m the last person in my circle to have not read Michelle Alexander’s landmark work The New Jim Crow. It’s one of those books I’d always meant to get to but never had the chance. I borrowed it from someone in my family over a year ago and since I’m going to see them this weekend, I figured there’s no better excuse than that to finally read it.
I’ve heard a lot of arguments adjacent to it in favor of ending the drug war but Michelle Alexander’s work is more than that. In fact, to my recollection, she only mentions decriminalization once, which surprised me since decriminalization is often considered the end all to the drug war itself.
Instead, this is a polemic of history, a history that’s been forgotten and suppressed by white powers that be. Alexander’s argument in the broadest sense is that mass incarceration via drug arrests is the newest example of legalized prejudice to emerge from the United States’ anti-Black heritage, dating back to the transatlantic slave trade. She fills in the argument with facts and anecdotes about what the drug war post-Civil Rights has done to Black people.
I was familiar with some of the arguments but others floored me. Drug use was on a steady decline before the drug war itself was instituted by Nixon. Militarization of the police, which I often attributed to post-9/11 domestic hysteria, actually began in the 80s under Reagan. The vast majority of drug offenders are non-violent offenses.
She also touches on the stigma of incarceration and how being branded a criminal sticks with one after they leave prison. It presents a different challenge than Jim Crow. On the one hand, a person can no longer be legally discriminated against because of skin color. On the other hand, so many black people bear the title of “criminal,” that there is a galvanizing effect against them both in terms of employment and resources. I thought the toughest chapter would be the statistics but it was the particular one on what the criminal label does to people that I had the hardest time stomaching.
Yet the most challenging thing is the often dismissed second part of the book’s title: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Alexander’s book is not meant to heap guilt on white people. But it is meant to address how white people from all across the political spectrum have either actively or passively contributed to the mess Black people are in now. In fact, while she saves plenty of fire for conservative pols, the use of the term “colorblindness” is also a critique of white liberalism and well-intentioned white politeness. She even makes a brief but compelling critique of classism in the Black community that has contributed to mass incarceration.
It’s a book worthy of its accolades and should be read by every able bodied, sentient white person. Alexander posits some challenges but the biggest one is the need for a reformation of morals and values within white folks to change what they think is important in order that the political pressure to maintain mass incarceration cease....more
Gosh dang, these books are good. Like if John Grisham wrote a Better Call Saul movie only if he stuck it in New York and made Saul a moralist. Much ofGosh dang, these books are good. Like if John Grisham wrote a Better Call Saul movie only if he stuck it in New York and made Saul a moralist. Much of it is schlocky cliches but I just love reading how Eddie Flynn operates. He’s a hustler and that makes the book fun. ...more
I saw this laughable image/tweet in the time I was reading the book and since it’s close to the plot summary, I figured I’d bless y’all with it.
There’I saw this laughable image/tweet in the time I was reading the book and since it’s close to the plot summary, I figured I’d bless y’all with it.
There’s a certain condescension amongst book readers as to how seriously they should take page-turning novels. I often hear the phrase “Turn off your brain for this one!” While there may be some truth to it, most fiction requires elaborations and expansions of the truth. You could read something like The Defense and grouse about how something like that could never happen on every other page. Or you can just try and have fun.
I usually don’t go for these thrill-a-minute type books, and again, that’s not to yuck anyone’s yum. I like something I can really sink my teeth into. But sometimes, I fall into a page turner and I can enjoy it from start to finish.
Yes, Steve Cavanagh resorts a little too much to the tried and true formula of cliffhangers at the end of every chapter. But he tells the story with verve. While Eddie Flynn is a walking cliche (lawyer, heavy drinker, ex-husband, Girl Dad), I liked how Cavanagh weaved cleverness into Flynn’s repertoire. He’s a hustler and he uses his skills to hustle the courts and his client, who has put him in an awkward situation. Frequently, Flynn gets into a jam and I’d wonder how Cavanagh would write him out and almost always, he did it well. Even if large parts of this were predictable, I was excited to see how it ended.
So yeah, I guess you can “Turn your brain off” for this but really, it’s a step above most airport fare and if you’re willing to cast pretensions aside, you might find yourself enjoying it....more
If you look at a bestseller list at this particular moment, it’s stacked top-to-bottom with black writers and white antiracist educators. That’s good,If you look at a bestseller list at this particular moment, it’s stacked top-to-bottom with black writers and white antiracist educators. That’s good, it shows that white Americans want to learn how to identify their racism and eradicate it.
However, I’ve heard from multiple black people and other antiracist educators some frustration that Angela Davis’ work hasn’t been centered more. Most of the books purchased have come out in the last few years, while Dr. Davis has been doing antiracism work for five decades. Her influence has reached all corners of the movement for black lives.
Chastened by this having never read her work, I picked up this slim volume. I’m trying to learn more about prison abolition as my sympathies lie in that direction. And she was the original voice on it.
What’s amazing is this book came out in 2003. The conversation has shifted so much the last 10 years around mass incarceration. And yet, Davis’ arguments are really the seeds for the movement, as she effectively breaks down the history of prisons in the western world, connects them to slavery and the post-slavery impact of Jim Crow and argues both their ineffectiveness and inhumanity. She also makes the links between the explosion of private prisons from the 80s on to the capitalist expansion effort which birthed the prison industrial complex and outsourced itself to the rest of the world. And while people of all races are victimized by it, Davis shows that because it has roots in slavery, mass incarceration is inseparable from anti-blackness, fomented in the States and globally spread.
A lot of folks will turn to Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, as well they should, but Angela Davis has been involved in this kind of prison abolition work since the 60s and she’s able to draw from her own experience having been incarcerated to talk about the necessity for ending the system. This really feels like it should be required reading for anyone looking at criminal justice reform.
I do wish she had gone longer into what actual abolition would look like. She’s absolutely right that the difficulty is imagining a world without prisons. I’m so used to a law-and-order justice system that I have a hard time imagining what restorative and reparative justice would look like in practice. So it’s maybe not her fault but I would have liked some more examples. She also doesn’t touch on the struggle of transfolk in prison, which has only recently become a concern of cisfolk but is still unique and important.
Nevertheless, this is a monumental work from a leading voice who has been here this whole time. If you have yet to read her work, I imagine this is as good of a place as any to start....more
Ummm wow. It took me two tries to get into this because of Turow's dry writing style but...wow, was there a pay off. It's not written in your typical Ummm wow. It took me two tries to get into this because of Turow's dry writing style but...wow, was there a pay off. It's not written in your typical John Grisham-fashion and its about as anti-pulp as you can get from a thriller. But it's a thriller all the same and it really takes off once the trial begins, all the way to its shocking conclusion. A classic and I can't wait to read more about Turow's Kindle County, which is something I never thought I would say after slogging through the first 100 pages....more
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