American Purgatory

Praise for American Purgatory: For years now, I have turned to Benjamin Weber's work to more fully make sense of American history. He is a historian who has transformed my understanding of the relationship between racism, imperialism, and incarceration. He is a scholar who writes with both moral urgency and intellectual clarity. American Purgatory will forever change how we understand the rise of mass incarceration. It will forever change how we understand this country. -Clint Smith, bestselling author of How the Word Is Passed American Purgatory is a tour de force that brings together the history of racial exploitation and colonialism over four centuries, as well as the various forms of opposition that consistently emerged in response to punitive developments. In doing so, Benjamin Weber provides a critical new framework that can help us envision a more equitable and just world. -Elizabeth Hinton, author of From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime Masterfully researched and written, American Purgatory takes the history of mass incarceration to an entirely new level, as it connects centuries of American expansion and conquest on the North American continent and overseas to the planning logics and actual practices of prison systems. Benjamin Weber's global perspective on 'prison imperialism' as well as prisoners' resistance has produced a field-defining book. -Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Harvard University This outstanding book exposes the surprising connection between America's current age of mass incarceration and the imperial prisons of the past. Showing how racism and colonialism shaped government efforts to incapacitate people who resisted the incursions of U.S. foreign policy, Weber highlights the urgency of understanding the relation between decolonization, antiracism, and the possibility of prison abolition. -Vincent Brown, author of Tacky's Revolt