Scan barcode
A review by huerca_armada
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
5.0
This year was the 50th anniversary of the Attica Prison riot, though it wouldn't be surprising for you to suddenly learn this fact. Outside of a tepid few articles in the mass media and institutional press establishments, this historic milestone received very little fanfare whatsoever. And why would it? As Heather Ann Thompson displays in her powerfully moving work, the State (both New York state and the entity of authority that we can refer to generally as) has done everything in its power to make sure that Attica is not just forgotten, but actively suppressed. This ranges from how long that victims, both former prisoners and hostages, have been forced to wait for redress by the state, to the fact that even now, decades later, boxes of sealed papers on the events that took place in early to mid September in Attica remain censored, unable to be accessed by the public.
Thompson's work won the Pulitzer a few years ago, and for good reason. Her work is a phenomenal display of love and dedication towards uncovering the truth of what happened at Attica. From the painstaking backstories that trace a host of prisoners and correctional officers to the prison itself, virtually every step is traced in recounting the tragedy. The motivations that sparked the uprising, ranging from the minor to the major, are given life, while when the shooting starts virtually every shell casing, bullet fragment, and injured victim is accounted for from multiple angles. Thompson refuses to shy away from the grotesque or the gory, giving us detailed descriptions of what the assault looked like, how those very same injuries affected countless men years later, and the nature of the beatings and gauntlet runs men were forced to make once the prison had been retaken. It is enough to churn the guts in disgust at what transpired all those years ago, but you should not shy away from it.
Even more powerful than the physical details of broken bones and bullet wounds is that of the sheer anger that you will feel developed towards anyone in a position of even moderate power in the New York state bureaucracy by the end of the book. This isn't even from a personal position of "screw authority, that shit sucks mannn," but instead from a deep sense of disgust that is far different from that which you would have felt reading about the horrific things that men sustained in the retaking, but instead a chilling sense of disgust about the callousness of those in power and their inability to accept responsibility for the blood that soaked their hands after just 30 minutes. It would take 21 years after the storming of Attica by the New York state troopers, hundreds of correctional officers, and sheriffs, all of them gun toting and firing at prisoners armed with only light weaponry and who would have given up if warned appropriately or even offered clemency for the riot. Instead, retaking the prison was more important -- and as a result, 40 needless deaths transpired, all of whom died of gunshot wounds, all of whom have their blood staining the hands of men like Nelson Rockefeller and his cronies.
You owe it to yourself to read this book. The amount of times that I was reading passages from Blood In the Water, and with a sinking feeling realized how applicable these same things I was reading today were to the state of prisons today speak volumes to how much the lessons from Attica have been sought to be repressed by institutional power. Don't let Attica be forgotten.
Thompson's work won the Pulitzer a few years ago, and for good reason. Her work is a phenomenal display of love and dedication towards uncovering the truth of what happened at Attica. From the painstaking backstories that trace a host of prisoners and correctional officers to the prison itself, virtually every step is traced in recounting the tragedy. The motivations that sparked the uprising, ranging from the minor to the major, are given life, while when the shooting starts virtually every shell casing, bullet fragment, and injured victim is accounted for from multiple angles. Thompson refuses to shy away from the grotesque or the gory, giving us detailed descriptions of what the assault looked like, how those very same injuries affected countless men years later, and the nature of the beatings and gauntlet runs men were forced to make once the prison had been retaken. It is enough to churn the guts in disgust at what transpired all those years ago, but you should not shy away from it.
Even more powerful than the physical details of broken bones and bullet wounds is that of the sheer anger that you will feel developed towards anyone in a position of even moderate power in the New York state bureaucracy by the end of the book. This isn't even from a personal position of "screw authority, that shit sucks mannn," but instead from a deep sense of disgust that is far different from that which you would have felt reading about the horrific things that men sustained in the retaking, but instead a chilling sense of disgust about the callousness of those in power and their inability to accept responsibility for the blood that soaked their hands after just 30 minutes. It would take 21 years after the storming of Attica by the New York state troopers, hundreds of correctional officers, and sheriffs, all of them gun toting and firing at prisoners armed with only light weaponry and who would have given up if warned appropriately or even offered clemency for the riot. Instead, retaking the prison was more important -- and as a result, 40 needless deaths transpired, all of whom died of gunshot wounds, all of whom have their blood staining the hands of men like Nelson Rockefeller and his cronies.
You owe it to yourself to read this book. The amount of times that I was reading passages from Blood In the Water, and with a sinking feeling realized how applicable these same things I was reading today were to the state of prisons today speak volumes to how much the lessons from Attica have been sought to be repressed by institutional power. Don't let Attica be forgotten.