Free Press
Worse Than Slavery
Key Metrics
- David M Oshinsky
- Free Press
- Paperback
- 9780684830957
- 8.4 X 5.4 X 0.9 inches
- 0.7 pounds
- Social Science > Penology
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
Immortalized in blues songs and movies like Cool Hand Luke and The Defiant Ones, Mississippi's infamous Parchman State Penitentiary was, in the pre-civil rights south, synonymous with cruelty. Now, noted historian David Oshinsky gives us the true story of the notorious prison, drawing on police records, prison documents, folklore, blues songs, and oral history, from the days of cotton-field chain gangs to the 1960s, when Parchman was used to break the wills of civil rights workers who journeyed south on Freedom Rides.
Author Bio
David Oshinsky holds the Jack S. Blanton Chair in History at the University of Texas and is a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University. His books include Polio: An American Story, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2006. His essays and reviews appear regularly in the New York Times and other publications.
Education
PhD from Brandeis University
Source: New York University
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