Blood In The Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 And Its Legacy
Dr. Heather Ann Thompson
Professor of History. Department of Afro-American and African Studies, Residential College, and Department of History. The University of Michigan
Pantheon (August 23, 2016),
Hardcover 752 pages
THE FIRST DEFINITIVE
HISTORY OF THE INFAMOUS 1971 ATTICA PRISON UPRISING, THE STATE’S VIOLENT
RESPONSE, AND THE VICTIMS’ DECADES-LONG QUEST FOR JUSTICE
On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 prisoners took over the Attica
Correctional Facility in upstate New York to protest years of
mistreatment. Holding guards and civilian employees hostage, the
prisoners negotiated with officials for improved conditions during the
four long days and nights that followed.
On September 13, the state
abruptly sent hundreds of heavily armed troopers and correction
officers to retake the prison by force. Their gunfire killed thirty-nine
men—hostages as well as prisoners—and severely wounded more than one
hundred others. In the ensuing hours, weeks, and months, troopers and
officers brutally retaliated against the prisoners. And, ultimately, New
York State authorities prosecuted only the prisoners, never once
bringing charges against the officials involved in the retaking and its
aftermath and neglecting to provide support to the survivors and the
families of the men who had been killed.
Drawing from more
than a decade of extensive research, historian Heather Ann Thompson
sheds new light on every aspect of the uprising and its legacy, giving
voice to all those who took part in this forty-five-year fight for
justice: prisoners, former hostages, families of the victims, lawyers
and judges, and state officials and members of law enforcement. Blood in the Water is the searing and indelible account of one of the most important civil rights stories of the last century.
(With black-and-white illustrations throughout)
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