I could tell this book was intended for an academic audience. I would summarize it as: the California prison system is essentially an outlet for surplus capital that is available for investment; surplus land that owners want to sell for a profit; and surplus labor, both in the form of the urban poor who primarily populate the prisons and the rural populations who mistakenly believe that prisons will enrich their community with jobs. Volker Janssen. If you’ve read some of her other work, you might have the background to get more out of this than I did . It was an interesting, if extremely academic, look at a lot of the economic and political history of California. necessarily endorsed by the SF Bay Area IMC. Finished this book a few weeks ago but didn't have chance to post review. With the exception of this single chapter though, I didn’t enjoy reading this very much. She does identify some of the ways that prisons enforce existing race and class hierarchies, but if she posits this as an explanatory factor, I didn’t catch that. non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and Tweak Me theme by Nose Graze. Powered by, CHOICE Award for Outstanding Academic Title. It is certainly possible this is a case where it’s not the book, it’s me! The author also noted that it didn’t have to work out this way, but fails to explain why prisons, as opposed to some other development project, ended up being the recipient of this investment of surplus resources. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay. (including bibliography and index). elsewhere. (pp. We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts! 2 It included a lot of theory, history, and some economic/business info that I struggled with. Oh, no, I am so sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this! It included a lot of theory, history, and some economic/business info that I struggled with. With the exception of one chapter, on the Mothers Reclaiming Our Children (ROC) movement, it was dense and difficult to follow. I would highly recommend reading the section on the valuable work of Mothers ROC, but I’m not sure the rest was worth the effort. $ 132.00 donatedin the past month. That’s what led me to this academic nonfiction work of hers, which purports to explain the origins of the extensive California prison system. However, I think I followed along sufficiently to grasp the author’s main argument. "Golden Gulag is a deeply necessary book for our times. In some ways, the contents are old news, but alas not old enough to have become mere bad memories or the stuff of history to learn from. While many of these books look at trends nationwide, or even in the industrialized West, it is no coincidence that they tend to focus on California. This is a book review by Sara Olson of Ruth Wilson Gilmore's book - Golden Gulag; Prisons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California. Guest Post by Felix Lucero. I didn’t learn what I hoped to from it and by the end, I was relieved to be finished. Learn how your comment data is processed. With the exception of one chapter, on the Mothers Reclaiming Our Children (ROC) movement, it was dense and difficult to follow. 412 pp. ISBN 978—0—520—22256—4; $19.95 (pbk). Thoughts and News on Criminal Justice and Correctional Policy in California, I specialize in criminal justice and civil rights and teach at, bear logo (c) Chad Goerzen.. Watermark theme. Book Review: Prison Profiteers, Edited by Tara Her... What's Cheaper: Litigating or Realigning? Opinions are those of the contributors and are not Golden Gulag provides a rich context for this complex dilemma, and at the same time challenges many cherished assumptions about who benefits and who suffers from the state’s commitment to prison expansion. Volker Janssen. The Limits of Savings: Cutting Prisons but Not Pop... Ninth Circuit Revives Inmate Lawsuit for Pagan Cha... Today: Solitary Confinement Hearing in Sacramento. ★★. $50 (hbk). Book Review: Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore So many great books have come out in the 21st century examining the genesis of mass incarceration; we've discussed many of them here. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007. If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us. Gilmore digs beneath the easy answers to the more troubling causes of a political consensus that prisons are the only solution to all urban and rural ills." Unfortunately, while this book included some fascinating information, I think it failed in that primary goal. Although I wasn’t entirely persuaded by the author’s main arguments, I did learn a lot from this book. I’ve been working through an online class to learn about the prison abolition movement and it includes several interviews with author Ruth Wilson Gilmore. Book review: Golden gulag: Prisons, surplus, crisis, and opposition in globalizing California, Ruth Wilson Gilmore. Golden Gulag is a late first book—late in my life, late to the press, and so late in the twentieth century that it appears well into the twenty-first. I could tell this book was intended for an academic audience. Blogs > Cliopatria > Tony Platt: Review of Ruth Wilson Gilmore's Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California (UC Press). The chapter I already mentioned, on Mothers ROC, was a particular favorite of mine. This book is really critical for understanding the 'why' of the prison-industrial complex, and not just the 'how' - which I tend to think we know more about. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for A book review by Sara Olson California embraces the nickname, the Golden State. It was more readable and more tangible than the earlier chapters, which focused more on theory. ISBN 978—0—520—24201—2 Show all authors. Design by New Chapter Designs, #KirkusPrize Shortlist Review: A Furious Sky, #FuturisticFriday: Find Your New Reads {Oct-Dec 2020 Edition}. Summary: Included some interesting info, but it was dense and didn’t answer the main question it addressed.

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