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kumarhk's review
5.0
An incredible study of the legal and political history of the carceral state from the civil rights era onwards that reveals how liberal conceptualizations of law-and-order and rights-based ideology undergirded the development of the modern American carceral state and its transfiguration of state-sanctioned racial violence. Murakawa forcefully and rigorously explores the development of carceral policies across the bulk of the book, leading to a beautifully written and powerful conclusion that serves as a stark warning against seeking procedural or administrative solutions to state violence. The development of the carceral state, which might seem like a paradox from the mainstream framing of civil rights era history, is rendered here a direct outcome of liberal neutrality discourse on race in the United States, where victory and failure are often one and the same for the civil rights movement. Particularly interesting was also how the role of state legitimation is revealed in this narrative -- for the state, the problem posed by the civil rights era, from on-the-ground activists to liberals to conservatives, was not racism per se, but the potential delegitimation of the state; in this view, the expansion of the carceral state as mediator of racial violence, through the interest convergence of liberal and conservative politicians, seems obvious (or at least ironic) rather than paradoxical.
jane_seymour7's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. This book is excellent for anyone interested in understanding the political origins of the modern carceral state. Murakawa's writing style is engaging in a way that keeps what easily could have been an incredibly dry and dull read captivating.
roseatwood's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. This book is excellent for anyone interested in understanding the political origins of the modern carceral state. Murakawa's writing style is engaging in a way that keeps what easily could have been an incredibly dry and dull read captivating.
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