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Blood in the water : the Attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy

Summary: On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 prisoners took over the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York to protest years of mistreatment. Holding guards and civilian employees hostage, during the four long days and nights that followed, the inmates negotiated with state officials for improved living conditions. On September 13, the state abruptly ended talks and sent hundreds of heavily armed state troopers and corrections officers to retake the prison by force. In the ensuing gunfire, thirty-nine men were killed -- hostages as well as prisoners -- and close to one hundred were severely injured. After the prison was secured, troopers and officers brutally retaliated against the prisoners during the weeks that followed. For decades afterward, instead of charging any state employee who had committed murder or carried out egregious human rights abuses, New York officials prosecuted only the prisoners and failed to provide necessary support to the hostage survivors or the families of any of the men who'd been killed. Heather Ann Thompson explores every aspect of the uprising and its legacy from the perspectives of all of those involved in this forty-five-year fight for justice: the prisoners, the state officials, the lawyers on both sides, the state troopers and corrections officers, and the families of the slain men.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781400078240
  • ISBN: 0375423222
  • ISBN: 9780375423222
  • Physical Description: xvii, 724 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
    print
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, [2016]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references (pages 579-684) and index.
Formatted Contents Note: Introduction: State secrets -- The tinderbox: Frank "Big Black" Smith -- Power and politics unleashed: Michael Smith -- The sound before the fury: Tom Wicker -- Retribution and reprisals unimagined: Tony Strollo -- Reckonings and reactions: Robert Douglass -- Inquiries and diversions: Anthony Simonetti -- Justice on trial: Ernest Goodman -- Blowing the whistle: Malcolm Bell -- David and Goliath: Elizabeth Fink -- A final fight: Deanne Quinn Miller.
Awards Note:
Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy, 2017
Finalist, National Book Award for Nonfiction, 2016
Pulitzer Prize for History, 2017
Subject: Attica Prison.
Prison riots New York (State)
Prisoners Abuse of New York (State)
Attica Prison.
SOCIAL SCIENCE Penology
HISTORY United States State & Local Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ
Criminal law

Available copies

  • 14 of 14 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 14 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Albright Memorial Library 365.9747 THOMPSO (Text) 50686015103901 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Altoona Area Public Library 365.974 THO (Text) 33240004525633 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Emmaus Public Library 365.9747 THOM (Text) 3644600192100- Adult Nonfiction Available -
Indian Valley Public Library 365.973 Thompson Law Just (Text) 39427103147013 Nonfiction Room: Adult Nonfiction Available -
Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity 365.974 THO 2016 (Text) 31001101691237 Adult Non Fiction Available -
Patton Public Library 365.974 THO (Text) 31815200263329 PTTM Non-Fiction Available -
Public Library of Catasauqua 365.974 THO (Text) 70000000194840 Adult Non-Fiction Available -
Reading Public Library RPL - Main 365.974793 Tho (Text) 33223008162439 Non-fiction Available -
Wyomissing Public Library 365.9747 THO (Text) 35012001400260 Non-fiction Available -
Barrett Paradise Friendly Library 365.97 Tho (Text) 37171000102869 Adult Nonfiction Available -


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