Reviews
New York Times, March 28, 2010
A searching history of American incarceration… An alarming indictment, built on passionate and exhaustive research.
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Houston Chronicle, March 21, 2010
Provocative [and] sorrowful… A sweeping history of American imprisonment from the days of slavery to the present.
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San Francisco Chronicle (Associated Press), March 15, 2010
Compelling…Texas Tough is a gripping history lesson and a fascinating read.
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The Dallas Morning News, April 11, 2010
This is not a book that will make Texans proud…but anyone interested in America’s prison system should read it.
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The Boston Globe, March 29, 2010
Perkinson makes a convincing case that mass incarceration is the most pressing civil rights issue today… Essential reading if the nation ever hopes to move in a different, less-punitive and more-rehabilitative direction.
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Booklist, March 1, 2010
Sheds light on the evolution of penal systems across the country… A fascinating and often deeply troubling book.
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Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2010
An intensively researched, disturbing history of American penology… A convincing and discouraging argument that the Texas model of a profit-making, retributive prison system has become the national template.
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