An account of the rise of the New York penitentiary system at a time when the United States was garnering international acclaim for its penal methods. Beginning with Newgate, an ill-fated institution built in New York City and named after the famous British prison, the author describes the development of such well-known institutions as Auburn Prison and Sing Sing, and ends with the establishment of Clinton Prison at Dannemora. In the process, he analyzes the activities and motives of such penal reformers as Thomas Eddy, the Quaker merchant who was chiefly responsible for the founding of the penitentiary system in New York; Elam Lynds, whose unsparing use of the lash made him one of the most famous wardens in American history; and Eliza W. Farnham, who attempted to base the treatment of convicts upon the pseudoscience of phrenology. The author focuses on the history of the Auburn penal system, the especially harsh and repressive regime of which was copied throughout the world in the nineteenth century.

A significant chapter in the history of American social reform is traced in this skillful account of the rise of the New York penitentiary system at a time when the United States was garnering international acclaim for its penal methods. Beginning with Newgate, an ill-fated institution built in New York City and named after the famous British prison, W. David Lewis describes the development of such well-known institutions as Auburn Prison and Sing Sing, and ends with the establishment of Clinton Prison at Dannemora. In the process, he analyzes the activities and motives of such penal reformers as Thomas Eddy, the Quaker merchant who was chiefly responsible for the founding of the penitentiary system in New York; Elam Lynds, whose unsparing use of the lash made him one of the most famous wardens in American history; and Eliza W. Farnham, who attempted to base the treatment of convicts upon the pseudoscience of phrenology.The history of the Auburn penal system—copied throughout the world in the nineteenth century—is the central topic of Lewis's study. Harsh and repressive discipline was the rule at Auburn; by night, the inmates were kept in solitary confinement and by day they were compelled to maintain absolute silence while working together in penitentiary shops. Moreover, the proceeds of their labor were expected to cover the full cost of institutional maintenance, turning the prison into a factory. (Indeed, Auburn Prison became a leading center of silk manufacture for a time.)Lewis shows how the rise and decline of the Auburn system reflected broad social and intellectual trends during the period. Conceived in the 1820s, a time of considerable public anxiety, the methods used at Auburn were seriously challenged twenty years later, when a feeling of social optimism was in the air. The Auburn system survived the challenge, however, and its methods, only slightly modified, continued to be used in dealing with most of the state's adult criminals to the end of the century.First published in 1965, From Newgate to Dannemora was the first in-depth treatment of American prison reform that took into account the broader context of political, economic, and cultural trends in the early national and Jacksonian period. With its clear prose and appealing narrative approach, this paperback edition will appeal to a new generation of readers interested in penology, the history of New York State, and the broader history of American social reform.

From Columbus' voyages to the New World through today's prison expansion movements, incarceration has played an important, yet disconcerting, role in American history. In this sweeping examination of imprisonment in the United States over five centuries, Scott Christianson exposes the hidden record of the nation's prison heritage, illuminating the forces underlying the paradox of a country that sanctifies individual liberty while it continues to build and maintain a growing complex of totalitarian institutions. Based on exhaustive research and the author's insider's knowledge of the criminal justice system, With Liberty for Some provides an absorbing, well-written chronicle of imprisonment in its many forms. Interweaving his narrative with the moving, often shocking, personal stories of the prisoners themselves and their keepers, Christianson considers convict transports to the colonies; the international trade in captive indentured servants, slaves, and military conscripts; life under slavery; the transition from colonial jails to model state prisons; the experience of domestic prisoners of war and political prisoners; the creation of the penitentiary; and the evolution of contemporary corrections. His penetrating study of this broad spectrum of confinement reveals that slavery and prisons have been inextricably linked throughout American history. He also examines imprisonment within the context of the larger society. With Liberty for Some is a thought-provoking work that will shed new light on the ways in which imprisonment has shaped the American experience. As the author writes, "Prison is the black flower of civilization -- a durable weed that refuses to die."

With welfare reform a burning political issue, this special anniversary edition of the classic history of welfare in America has been revised and updated to include the latest bipartisan debates on how to "end welfare as we know it". With an informative new Introduction and a new concluding chapter, this timely edition makes for important reading. Index.

Meet George Appo, pickpocket, con man, mayor of underworld New York in the late 19th century. In Appo's world, child pickpockets swarmed the crowded streets, addicts drifted in furtive opium dens, and expert swindlers worked the lucrative green-goods game. 60 illustrations.

"Overall, the book is organized by topic, including business, politics, education, religion, the arts, transportation, and the press. Cole shows how Columbus residents reacted to and reflected the major political, economic, and social trends in the United States at the time. In contrast to earlier accounts that focused primarily on the male, white leadership, this book tries to encompass all economic classes and ethnic and racial groups.".

Blacks in the Adirondacks: A History tells the story of the many African Americans who settled in or passed through this rural, mountainous region of northeastern New York State. In the area for a variety of reasons, some were lifetime residents, while others were there for a few years or months—as summer employees, tuberculosis patients, or in connection with full- or part-time occupations in railroading, the performing arts, and baseball. From blacks who settled on land gifted to them by Gerrit Smith, a prosperous landowner and fervent abolitionist, to those who worked as waiters in resort hotels, Svenson chronicles their rich and varied experiences, with an emphasis on the 100 years between 1850 and 1950. Many experienced racism and isolation in their separation from larger black populations; some found a sense of community in the scattered black settlements of the region. In this first definitive history, Svenson gives voice to the many blacks who spent time in the Adirondacks and sheds light on their challenges and successes in this remote region.

Since the mid-nineteenth century, Americans have known the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York as a site of industrial production, a place to heal from disease, and a sprawling outdoor playground that must be preserved in its wild state. Less well known, however, has been the area's role in hosting a network of state and federal prisons. A Prison in the Woods traces the planning, construction, and operation of penitentiaries in five Adirondack Park communities from the 1840s through the early 2000s to demonstrate that the histories of mass incarceration and environmental consciousness are interconnected. Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr. reveals that the introduction of correctional facilities—especially in the last three decades of the twentieth century—unearthed long-standing conflicts over the proper uses of Adirondack nature, particularly since these sites have contributed to deforestation, pollution, and habitat decline, even as they've provided jobs and spurred economic growth. Additionally, prison plans have challenged individuals' commitment to environmental protection, tested the strength of environmental regulations, endangered environmental and public health, and exposed tensions around race, class, place, and belonging in the isolated prison towns of America's largest state park.

Campaigns against Corporal Punishment explores the theory and practice of punishment in Antebellum America from a broad, comparative perspective. It probes the concerns underlying the naval, prison, domestic, and educational reform campaigns which occurred in New England and New York from the late 1820s to the late 1850s. Focusing on the common forms of physical punishment inflicted on seamen, prisoners, women, and children, the book reveals the effect of these campaigns on actual disciplinary practices. Myra C. Glenn also places the crusade against corporal punishment in the context of various other contemporary reform movements such as the crusade against intemperance and that against slavery. She shows how regional and political differences affected discussions of punishment and discipline.