{"product_id":"the-prison-and-the-american-imagination-yale-studies-in-english-9780300141665","title":"The Prison and the American Imagination (Yale Studies in English)","description":"\u003cp\u003eHow did a nation so famously associated with freedom become internationally identified with imprisonment? After the scandals of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay  and in the midst of a dramatically escalating prison population  the question is particularly urgent. In this timely  provocative study  Caleb Smith argues that the dehumanization inherent in captivity has always been at the heart of American civil society. Exploring legal  political  and literary textsincluding the works of Dickinson  Melville  and EmersonSmith shows how alienation and self-reliance  social death and spiritual rebirth  torture and penitence came together in the prison  a scene for the portrayal of both gothic nightmares and romantic dreams. Demonstrating how the cellular soul has endured since the antebellum age  The Prison and the American Imagination offers a passionate and haunting critique of the very idea of solitude in American life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45275090812981,"sku":"ByrdShop_0300141661","price":239.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780300141665.jpg?v=1780500753","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-prison-and-the-american-imagination-yale-studies-in-english-9780300141665","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}