A strong single-volume response to a seemingly intractable national dilemma.
A compassionate argument about why any reckoning with mass incarceration should transform imprisonment itself.
Keller, a founder of the nonprofit Marshall Project and former executive editor of the New York Times, acknowledges he came late to this thorny topic: “My crash course in criminal justice taught me that this country imprisons people more copiously than almost any other place on earth.” While others have outlined the inequities fueling mass incarceration, imprisonment itself remains an invisible cultural archipelago. “Our prisons are not the most transparent institutions,” writes the author, “and out of sight too often means out of mind. But the American way of incarceration is a shameful waste of lives and money.” The author clearly reveals the contemporary prison experience, from intake following conviction to the surreal “afterlife” of parole. At each stage, he shows absurd injustice, brutality, and despair, countered by enlightened approaches in places like Norway and domestic desires for change, including “a political force few saw coming: a reform movement on the right.” Keller initially reviews how American society became increasingly punitive in the early 1970s, as “punishment supplanted rehabilitation in the national discourse.” Yet other factors, including acknowledgement of unjust policing and declining post-1990 violent crime rates, laid the groundwork for a “cultural and generational shift away from the punitive.” We can see this shift in the restorative justice movement as well as “prosecutors questioning what crimes should be prosecuted and judges seeking non-court remedies.” The author also explores less-discussed facets, including the systemic pressures faced by corrections officers, the insidious effect of for-profit incarceration, and the particular marginalization of women prisoners. He portrays education and mentorship as especially crucial. “Almost every conversation I had with prison veterans,” writes Keller, “turned sooner or later to a plea for respect, for dignity.” Though some of the author’s observations have been documented before, the narrative is well researched and lucid.
A strong single-volume response to a seemingly intractable national dilemma.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-7359137-4-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: Columbia Global Reports
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.
Portraits in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 lockdowns left New York City’s streets empty, many claimed that the city was “gone forever.” It was those words that inspired Stanton, whose previous collections include Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020), to return to the well once more for a new love letter to the city’s humanity and diversity. Beautifully laid out in hardcover with crisp, bright images, each portrait of a New Yorker is accompanied by sparse but potent quotes from Stanton’s interviews with his subjects. Early in the book, the author sequences three portraits—a couple laughing, then looking serious, then the woman with tears in her eyes—as they recount the arc of their relationship, transforming each emotional beat of their story into an affecting visual narrative. In another, an unhoused man sits on the street, his husky eating out of his hand. The caption: “I’m a late bloomer.” Though the pandemic isn’t mentioned often, Stanton focuses much of the book on optimistic stories of the post-pandemic era. Among the most notable profiles is Myles Smutney, founder of the Free Store Project, whose story of reclaiming boarded‑up buildings during the lockdowns speaks to the city’s resilience. In reusing the same formula from his previous books, the author confirms his thesis: New York isn’t going anywhere. As he writes in his lyrical prologue, “Just as one might dive among coral reefs to marvel at nature, one can come to New York City to marvel at humanity.” The book’s optimism paints New York as a city where diverse lives converge in moments of beauty, joy, and collective hope.
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781250277589
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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