Alcatraz: The Gangster Years [Hardcover]

David Ward (Author), Gene Kassebaum (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520256077 | ISBN-13: 978-0520256071 | Publication Date: May 19, 2009 | Edition: 1

Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Alvin Karpis, "Dock" Barker--these were just a few of the legendary "public enemies" for whom America's first supermax prison was created. In Alcatraz: The Gangster Years, David Ward brings their stories to life, along with vivid accounts of the lives of other infamous criminals who passed through the penitentiary from 1934 to 1948. Ward, who enjoyed unprecedented access to FBI, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and Federal Parole records, conducted interviews with one hundred former Alcatraz convicts, guards, and administrators to produce this definitive history of "The Rock." Alcatraz is the only book with authoritative answers to questions that have swirled about the prison: How did prisoners cope psychologically with the harsh regime? What provoked the protests and strikes? How did security flaws lead to the sensational escape attempts? And what happened when these "habitual, incorrigible" convicts were finally released? By shining a light on the most famous prison in the world, Ward also raises timely questions about today's supermax prisons.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Enjoyable as well as informative. Anyone who has read it is unlikely to look upon the Rock quite the same way ever again."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Alcatraz, as David Ward has re-created it, is irresistible to read about."--California Lawyer

"Alcatraz: The Gangster Years deserves a place in the library of anyone or institution."--California Historian

From the Inside Flap

"Ward has collected the most impressive documentation anywhere on the workings of a prison. A unique and wonderful work of sociology and history."--Howard Becker, author of Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance and Art Worlds

"This groundbreaking history of the country's most notorious prison is the first to give an in-depth analysis of the interaction between the guards and the prisoners. Ward captures the Alcatraz experience with the accuracy of someone who has practically been there and lays to rest many of the myths that have grown up around the prison. No longer will the story-tellers be able to describe the inmates as 'the worst of the worst' without qualification. Their individual stories come alive as the author records the varied life experiences that brought them to Alcatraz and describes their coping mechanisms. A unique and fascinating study."--Morton Sobell, Alcatraz Inmate #AZ699 1950-1963, author of On Doing Time

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 584 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (May 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520256077
• ISBN-13: 978-0520256071
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as I expected., August 7, 2011

By 

R. Howard (Palm Springs CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alcatraz: The Gangster Years (Paperback)

For a person with as much access to Bureau of Prisons records as Ward had, I expected a much better book. Some of its flaws that detracted from its overall output were the use of a fictional "Officer Y" used in places where an actual
officer's name should be (with no explanation of why); an almost "peeping Tom" approach to the personal letters exchanged between George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Katherine, after they had been captured, tried, and imprisoned (there was really no need for this intimate invasion); and, most tiring of all, the seemingly excessive dependancy on information culled from a relationship between the author and convict Harmon Waley, a criminal who kidnaped the seven-year-old son of a wealthy man, bound him in chains, and kept him in a hole in the ground in some woods for several nights, as well as a dark closet and the trunk of a car for several more nights while awaiting ransom payment. Ward seemed to have an
affection for Waley; certainly giving him considerable credibility for his information, going so far as to allow him to submit handwritten critiques critizing other books on Alcataz, as well trial transcripts prepared by Bureau of Prisons officials. Other books on Alcatraz have described Waley as the most hated convict in the prison, yet Ward seems to take his every word as gospel. Other books on Alcatraz, particularly Michael Esslinger's "Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years," is a much better read, by far.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alcatraz Island - Must Read!, May 27, 2009

By 

C. Stucker - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alcatraz: The Gangster Years (Hardcover)

Excellent! David Ward has finally begun to answer the question on whether or not the Alcatraz Experiment worked. Having had the fortunate GOOD LUCK in being able to live on Alcatraz until my teenage years. My Father, Uncle & Cousin were all officers on the Island. I now have a much better understanding on what went on inside the Prison. Even though my Father & Relatives worked inside the prison for many years, they would never talk about their jobs. This book covers the years 1934-1948. A MUST read for those interested in the REAL Story of the Bureau Of Prison years. Looking forward to David's second book covering the years from 1949 to after the closing of Alcatraz in 1963.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite A Thorough Undertaking, May 3, 2009

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alcatraz: The Gangster Years (Hardcover)

This book may tell some readers more about Alcatraz and its inmates than they care to read about. The book covers the years from the prison's inception in 1934 through 1948, and includes 466 pages of text in addition to several pages of notes. The book includes well-known notorious inmates such as Al Capone, Alvin Karpis, and George Kelly in addition to several others who gained infamy through their uncooperative behavior during their incarceration. Various ingenious escape attempts during these years are also included, but I found the attempt beginning on May 2, 1946, (which was going on 63 years ago at this time)to be the most interesting. Books have been written and a movie produced covering this unsuccessful attempt, and I found the account in this book to be written in great detail. Interestingly enough deviant behavior inside the prison did not necessarily translate into future re-incarceration upon the individual's release, and vice versa. Three sections of photographs of various inmates, the 1946 escape attempt, and photos both inside and outside the prison are included. Several of these photos I have not seen in other books. I believe a follow-up volume covering the years 1949 until the prison's closing in 1963, which will include the escape attempt in 1962, will be forthcoming in the future.