Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1

by Angela Y. Davis

Overview

A major collection of essays and  speeches from pioneering freedom fighter Angela Y. Davis

For over fifty years, Angela Y. Davis has been at the forefront of collective movements for abolition and feminism and the fight against state violence and oppression. Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, the first of two important new volumes, brings together an essential collection of Davis’s writing over the years, showing how her thinking has sharpened and evolved even as she has remained uncompromising in her commitment to collective liberation. In pieces that address the history of abolitionist practice and thought in the United States and globally, the unique contributions of women to abolitionist struggles, and stories and lessons of organizing inside and beyond the prison walls, Davis is always curious, always incisive, and always learning.

Rich and rewarding, Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises will appeal to fans of Davis, to students and scholars reflecting on her life and work, and to readers new to feminism, abolition, and struggles for liberation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642599640
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	01/30/2024
Pages:	300
Sales rank:	201,425
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Angela Y. Davis is Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz. An activist, writer, and lecturer, her work focuses on prisons, police, abolition, and the related intersections of race, gender, and class. She is the author of many books, from Angela Davis: An Autobiography to Freedom Is a Constant Struggle.

Table of Contents

Abolition, Volume 1: Politics, Practices, Promises

Introduction by Angela Y. Davis

Capitalism, Democracy, and the Prison

The Prisoner Exchange

Prison: A Sign of U.S. Democracy?

Inside/Outside: Women at the Borders of Globalization

Slavery and the U.S. Prison: Genealogical Connections

From the Prison of Slavery to the Slavery of Prison: Frederick Douglass and the

Convict Lease System  

From the Convict Lease System to the Supermax Prison

Disarticulating Crime and Punishment: Emerging Abolitionist Frameworks

Race and Criminalization: Black Americans and the Punishment Industry

Changing Attitudes Toward Crime and Punishment

Public Imprisonment and Private Violence: Reflections on the Hidden Punishment 

of Women

Rethinking Incarceration: Identifying the Prison Industrial Complex

Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex

Race, Gender and the Prison Industrial Complex: California and Beyond 

Incarcerated Women: The Netherlands, the United States, and Cuba

Women in Prison: Researching Race in Three National Contexts

Incarcarated Women: Transformative Strategies

Fighting for her Future: Reflections on Human Rights and Women’s Prisons 

In the Netherlands              

Internationalism and Abolition

Statement for Dream Defenders Program on Palestine

Farewell to Rasmeah

Prisons and Palestine

Without Racism, Democracy Is Better

Editorial Reviews

★ 2023-12-26
The first volume of a collection of essays by former political prisoner and prison abolitionist Davis.

“Prisons do not disappear problems, they disappear human beings,” writes the author in this series of striking pieces outlining the scholar and prison abolitionist’s most important ideas. The book begins with a history of U.S. prisons, which were established as humanitarian alternatives to corporal punishment—“convict leasing,” a system Davis calls “a new form of slavery,” through which incarceration transformed into a profitable business. Today, companies like Victoria’s Secret and Chevron pay prison laborers less than minimum wage to make their goods. For much of the book, Davis focuses on women prisoners who, unlike their male counterparts, were historically considered irredeemable and receive little critical attention in the scholarly literature. “Prevailing attitudes toward women convicts differed from those toward men convicts,” writes the author, “who were assumed to have forfeited rights and liberties that women generally could not claim.” In other words, while male prisoners could lose the right to vote, women prisoners never had this right to begin with, so they were punished differently. The collection ends with a series of studies Davis co-authored with scholar Kum-Kum Bhavnani about prison conditions overseas. Although these pieces present alternatives to the American prison system, Davis and Bhavnani emphasize that they should be used to develop a “radical abolitionist strategy” rather than to fix the existing system. In a brilliantly observant, profoundly knowledgeable, and unfailingly original text, the author’s passion and eloquence render even the driest facts fascinating. Although many of the pieces in this volume have been published before, even the staunchest Davis devotees are likely to discover new material and new ways to reimagine a more just world.

A must-read essay collection for anyone invested in racial equity.

Kirkus Reviews

An activist. An author. A scholar. An abolitionist. A legend.”
—Ibram X. Kendi

“Before the world knew what intersectionality was, the scholar, writer and activist was living it, arguing not just for Black liberation, but for the rights of women and queer and transgender people as well.”
—New York Times

“As an iconic educator, scholar, and leader in the civil rights movement, Angela Davis is an obligatory add to your list of must-read black authors.”
—O Magazin

On Angela Davis: An Autobiography

“Riveting; as fresh and relevant today as it was almost 50 years ago. The words fire off the page with humour, anger and eloquence.”
—The Guardian

“Angela Davis: An Autobiography continues to fulfill that goal as the rare book that even almost 50 years later feels timely and relevant. Maybe too relevant, considering how little has changed in the interim.”
—Los Angeles Times

“This new edition of the autobiography is meant to bring Davis and her story to a new generation of readers, who can still identify with her experiences. Still a key work in the areas of prison abolition and feminism, this reissue of a classic autobiography deserves a place of honor in any collection.”
—Library Journal

On Freedom Is a Constant Struggle

"This is vintage Angela: insightful, curious, observant, and brilliant, asking and answering questions about events in this new century that look surprisingly similar to the last century." —Mumia Abu-Jamal

"Angela Davis once again offers us an incisive, urgent, and comprehensive understanding of systematic racism, the grounds for intersectional analysis and solidarity, and the importance of working together as equals to unmask and depose systems of injustice…. Angela Davis gathers in her lucid words our luminous history and the most promising future of freedom."
—Judith Butler

"She has eyes in the back of our head. With her we can survive and resist."
—John Berger

From the Publisher

Angela Davis has spent more than fifty years working for social justice. This summer [of 2020], society started to catch up.”

Vanity Fair Ava Duvernay