A review by lizmart88
Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption by Walidah Imarisha
4.0
Wow. This is an incredible book by anti-prison and criminal justice reform activist Walidah Imarisha.
The book tells the stories of the author, her adopted brother who is serving decades in prison for a crime committed as a juvenile, and of infamous Irish mobster Mac.
Its not a traditional biography by any means. She strives to convey each person (including herself) holistically, examining their choices and motivation, the systems they live within, and the people they love.
In particular, the story of Mac presents a gripping and chilling look at a man who is for all intents and purposes, a serial killer. And yet, she reaches his humanity beyond that persona, connecting the system of poverty to prison while also acknowledging his crimes as his choices. His story was particularly moving, reading about growing up in hells kitchen in New York.
At every point, she pushes the reader to examine the prison industrial complex. Her most poignant moment is when she asks, the question is not what happens when people do bad things. It's, what happens next?
The book tells the stories of the author, her adopted brother who is serving decades in prison for a crime committed as a juvenile, and of infamous Irish mobster Mac.
Its not a traditional biography by any means. She strives to convey each person (including herself) holistically, examining their choices and motivation, the systems they live within, and the people they love.
In particular, the story of Mac presents a gripping and chilling look at a man who is for all intents and purposes, a serial killer. And yet, she reaches his humanity beyond that persona, connecting the system of poverty to prison while also acknowledging his crimes as his choices. His story was particularly moving, reading about growing up in hells kitchen in New York.
At every point, she pushes the reader to examine the prison industrial complex. Her most poignant moment is when she asks, the question is not what happens when people do bad things. It's, what happens next?