Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire

A vivid history of America's biggest, baddest prison system and how it came to lead the nation's punitive revolution In the prison business, all roads lead to Texas. The most locked-down state in the nation has led the way in criminal justice severity, from assembly-line executions to isolation supermaxes, from prison privatization to sentencing juveniles as adults. "Texas Tough," a sweeping history of American imprisonment from the days of slavery to the present, shows how a plantation-based penal system once dismissed as barbaric became the national template. Drawing on convict accounts, official records, and interviews with prisoners, guards, and lawmakers, historian Robert Perkinson reveals the Southern roots of our present-day prison colossus. While conventional histories emphasize the North's rehabilitative approach, he shows how the retributive and profit-driven regime of the South ultimately triumphed. Most provocatively, he argues that just as convict leasing and segregation emerged in response to Reconstruction, so today's mass incarceration, with its vast racial disparities, must be seen as a backlash against civil rights. Illuminating for the first time the origins of America's prison juggernaut, "Texas Tough" points toward a more just and humane future.

About the Author :
Robert Perkinson is a professor of American studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His writing has appeared in "The Nation," "The Progressive," and "Boston Review," among other venues. "Texas Tough" is his first book. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Review :
Winner of the 2011 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award "A searching history of American incarceration, and an important reckoning with our societal responsibility... An alarming indictment, built on passionate and exhaustive research." --"The New York Times Book Review" "Compelling... A gripping history lesson and a fascinating read."--"San Francisco Chronicle" "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."--"The Boston Globe" "Takes readers on an eminently horrifying journey into America's own heart of darkness."--"Columbia Journalism Review" "A well-researched and compellingly-written genealogy of the contemporary model of retributive justice... Brings out the horrors of mass imprisonment and the need for systemic change." --"The Indypendent" "A rich narrative... Perkinson directs the clear light of reason onto the Lone Star State."--"The Morning News" "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." --"Kirkus Reviews" "Sheds light on the evolution of penal systems across the country... A fascinating and often deeply troubling book." --"Booklist" ""Texas Tough" is a raw, compelling assessment of racial disparity and southern culture as they have determined the massive over-incarceration of African Americans. If you want to understand how politics, not crime control, governs today's prison population, read this book. Anyone concerned with justice and fairness should place this on their must-read list." --Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and author of "When Law Fails" "This book is a Texas Death Match between David (Robert Perkinson) and Goliath (the American prison system). "A searching history of American incarceration, and an important reckoning with our societal responsibility... An alarming indictment, built on passionate and exhaustive research." --"The New York Times Book Review" "Compelling... A gripping history lesson and a fascinating read."--"San Francisco Chronicle" "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."--"The Boston Globe" "Takes readers on an eminently horrifying journey into America's own heart of darkness."--"Columbia Journalism Review" "A well-researched and compellingly-written genealogy of the contemporary model of retributive justice... Brings out the horrors of mass imprisonment and the need for systemic change." --"The Indypendent" "A rich narrative... Perkinson directs the clear light of reason onto the Lone Star State."--"The Morning News" "An “A searching history of American incarceration, and an important reckoning with our societal responsibility… An alarming indictment, built on passionate and exhaustive research.” —"The New York Times Book Review" “Compelling... A gripping history lesson and a fascinating read.”—"San Francisco Chronicle" “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.”—"The Boston Globe" “Takes readers on an eminently horrifying journey into America’s own heart of darkness.”—"Columbia Journalism Review" “A rich narrative… Perkinson directs the clear light of reason onto the Lone Star State.”—"The Morning News" “An intensively researched, disturbing history of American penology… A c