The big house : image and reality of the American prison / Stephen Cox.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cox, Stephen D., 1948-

Series:

Icons of America.

Icons of america

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prisons--United States.

Prisons.

Prisoners--United States.

Prisoners.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (255 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"The Big House" is America's idea of the prison-­a huge, tough, ostentatiously oppressive pile of rock, bristling with rules and punishments, overwhelming in size and the intent to intimidate. Stephen Cox tells the story of the American prison-its politics, its sex, its violence, its inability to control itself-and its idealization in American popular culture. This book investigates both the popular images of prison and the realities behind them­: problems of control and discipline, maintenance and reform, power and sexuality. It conveys an awareness of the limits of human and institutional power, and of the symbolic and iconic qualities the "Big House" has attained in America's understanding of itself.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Touring the Institution

2. How to Build a Big House

3. Your Life as a Convict

4. The Art of Humiliation

5. Sex

6. You Built It, Now Try to Run It

7. A Tale of Two Prisons

8. Rajahs and Reformers

9. Prisons You Can't Tear Down

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-282-35222-9

9786612352225

0-300-15495-X

OCLC:

816341667