Changing Lives Through Literature [Paperback]

Robert P. Waxler (Editor), Jean R. Trounstine (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book is the result of work that Waxler and Trounstine have done within the Massachusetts Correctional System. An alternative to jail, Waxlers program, Changing Lives Through Literature, encourages offenders to examine their lives through discussions of literary works. This book contains selections used in the program as well as discussion ideas. In addition, before each section readers will find discussion of the theme (i.e., violence, identity/voice, friendship/love, and family) and explanations of why the particular stories were selected and how they can be used to facilitate discussion. The authors represented include James Dickey, John Steinbeck, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Jack London. An interesting addition to criminal justice, penology, or social welfare collections, this might also work in education collections for teachers who are looking for innovative ways to teach contemporary classics.Danna C. Bell-Russel, Lib. of Congress, Washington DC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The title of this collection reveals the editors' ambitious premise: that literature has the ability to transform lives. Not just any lives: criminal lives. These selections (some stories, some novel excerpts), which range across the modern American literary map, from Jack London, Zora Neale Hurston, and John Steinbeck to James Dickey, Dorothy Allison, and Toni Morrison, were used by the editors in an alternative sentencing reading group in Massachusetts. In its first incarnation, they would all gather--offenders, one of the editors, even the judge himself--at a local college's dean's office and discuss these works. It has since been extended to groups of women offenders, and the encouraging results in both instances have given rise to this book. The selections are divided into four categories--violence, identity/voice, friendship/love, and family--with an introduction for each. Each selection ends with reflections from each of the editors, encouraging, they hope, the notion of dialogue and inquiry. James O'Laughlin

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0268008396
• ISBN-13: 978-0268008390
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,209,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a professor of humanities at Middlesex Community College in Lowell Massachusetts, and I specialize in writing, literature and theatre courses. I am never bored! I became a writer because of needing to write about working in prison. I needed to tell stories of the amazing women behind bars.

At Framingham Women's Prison in Massachusetts, I directed eight productions, including THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. Drawing from music history, women's history, art, literature and drama, the program eventually earned college credit and was nominated for a prestigious Schwartz Award, considered by the Mass Foundation for Humanities as the most successful project funded in 1988. It is the basis of my first book SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS: THE POWER OF DRAMA IN A WOMEN'S PRISON, published by St. Martin's Press, 2001.

Prison work changed me, and I've written many articles about teaching offenders and been featured on The Today Show, All Things Considered-NPR, and The Connection. I co-edited an anthology of writings used in the Changing Lives Through Literature Program, published by Notre Dame Press, a program I helped to establish for women in Massachusetts (see cltl.umassd.com), where criminals are sentenced to a literature seminar and probation instead of jail. Because of that work, I also coauthored FINDING A VOICE: THE PRACTICE OF CHANGING LIVES THROUGH LITERATURE, published by the University of Michigan Press (which also recently published the paperback of SBB).

My first collection of poetry, ALMOST HOME FREE, a collection of poetry about the journey of cancer -- I'm a survivor -- was published by Pecan Grove Press in 2003 and received enthusiastically.

Most recently I've co-edited a book with Karen Propp, WHY I'M STILL MARRIED, published by Hudson Street Press, an imprint of Penguin, 2006. Essayists include a slew of great writers!

I live more happily than not with my husband in Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good book. buy it!, May 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Changing Lives Through Literature (Paperback)

From Library Journal: This book is the result of work that Waxler and Trounstine have done within the Massachusetts Correctional System. An alternative to jail, Waxlers program, Changing Lives Through Literature, encourages offenders to examine their lives through discussions of literary works. This book contains selections used in the program as well as discussion ideas. In addition, before each section readers will find discussion of the theme (i.e., violence, identity/voice, friendship/love, and family) and explanations of why the particular stories were selected and how they can be used to facilitate discussion. The authors represented include James Dickey, John Steinbeck, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Jack London. An interesting addition to criminal justice, penology, or social welfare collections, this might also work in education collections for teachers who are looking for innovative ways to teach contemporary classics.Danna C. Bell-Russel, Lib. of Congress, Washington DC

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book-magical, February 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Changing Lives Through Literature (Paperback)

The book offers several important selctions from contemporary literature and demonstrates through the discussions by Waxler and Trousntine how powerful literature can be. The book should be read and used in any group that still believes in the possibilities of creating a human society.