Interrupted Life is a gripping collection of writings by and about imprisoned women in the United States; a country that jails a larger percentage of its population than any other nation in the world. This eye-opening work brings together scores of voices from both inside and outside the prison system including incarcerated and previously incarcerated women; their advocates and allies; abolitionists; academics; and other analysts. In vivid; often highly personal essays; poems; stories; reports; and manifestos; they offer an unprecedented view of the realities of women's experiences as they try to sustain relations with children and family on the outside; struggle for healthcare; fight to define and achieve basic rights; deal with irrational sentencing systems; remake life after prison; and more. Together; these powerful writings are an intense and visceral examination of life behind bars for women; and; taken together; they underscore the failures of imagination and policy that have too often underwritten our current prison system.
#666299 in Books 2007-01-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .64 x 6.04 x 8.98l; .82 #File Name: 0520249275253 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I consider this book to be an important step in ...By Joseph ThomasonI consider this book to be an important step in advancing the field of Central Asian Studies because it makes a large amount of otherwise inaccessible archival and practical information available to the reader. There are areas where the writing could be more clear; however considering the context of primary and secondary sources the book achieves a number of important goals that work in post-soviet literature and Islamic Studies cannot achieve operating separately.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This is a thorough book. The content is processed ...By Roar LjoekjellThis is a thorough book. The content is processed and presented in a scholarly way; accessible also for non-scholars. The emphasis is on historical; political and social aspects of Islam in the area. I would have wished more on individual spirituality and belief system.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Interesting Account of Soviet Impact on Central Asian MuslimsBy Daniel Garcia[*Note: The following review is of select portions of the book; Islam after Communism; by Adeeb Khalid. It takes into account the Introduction; Chapters 1-3 and 5; and the Conclusion]Islam after Communism is an attempt to convince the reader that the notion of "Islam" as a fixed set of (1) rules; (2) practices; (3) ideas--indeed; a fixed anything--that exists independent of political; economical; and other historical changes; is a fallacious assumption. The author; Adeeb Khalid; attempts to accomplish this feat primarily through the examples of the profound transformations the seventy-three-year period (1918-1991) of Soviet authority rendered in the religious; political; educational; and cultural understandings of Islam by the Muslim populations of Central Asia. His basic concern seems to be the deconstruction of the "Western essentialist" view of Islam: That it is (1) political by nature; (2) intolerant of other ideologies (religious; economic; and political); (3) oppressive to women; (4) militant in achieving its aims; and (5) that the most important thing to EVERY Muslim is that the tenets of Islam be upheld at ALL costs.Although the author is rather opinionated (and repetitive); he is a good story teller. The book is an interesting; smooth read. I recommend it for anybody interested in the history of the Soviet Union; the Communist influence in Central Asia and on Central Asian Muslims; and/or the history of the Muslim peoples. This is a history book; not a book about Islamic religion per se.
