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Articles by David Preston

American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination, by Kristian Williams, South End Press, 279 pages

Reviewed by David Preston

1979. How well I remember it. My freshman year at college. In an effort to expand my consciousness and do good in the world, I joined a campus human-rights group and wrote dozens of letters to repressive governments around the world, pleading with them to stop ...

Columbia Jail Journal: The Compelling, Exclusive Inside Story of the Columbia Three, by James Monaghan, Brandon Press, 277 pages

Reviewed by David Preston

Of the many and varied detours a man can take off the road to happiness, a trip to prison would have to be about the most discombobulating. And for most of us, a prison stint in an impoverished and violence-blighted nation like Columbia would have to ...

Unlock the Box: Documenting the Struggle to Shut Down Prison Control Units, Reel Soldier Productions / MIM (www.abolishcontrolunits.org) 2008, 2:00 hours

Unlock the Box: Documenting the Struggle to Shut Down Prison Control Units, Reel Soldier Productions / MIM (www.abolishcontrolunits.org) 2008, 2:00 hours

Reviewed by David Preston (DP_Editor@comcast.net)

The new documentary Unlock the Box is the upshot of two public conferences: “Unlock the Box,” held in 2005, in San Francisco, and “StopMax,” ...

Writ Writer: One Man's Journey for Justice

Writ Writer: One Man’s Journey for Justice?A co-production of Passage Productions and the Independent Television Service ?(ITVS), in association with Latino Public Broadcasting
Directed by Susanne Mason; 2008, 60 Minutes, $34.98 (personal use)
http://www.writwritermovie.com/index.html

Reviewed by David Preston

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine. [From the depths I cry out ...

An Execution in the Family: One Son’s Journey, by Robert Meeropol; St. Martin’s Griffin, 273 pages, $14.95

An Execution in the Family: One Son’s Journey, by Robert Meeropol; St. Martin’s Griffin, 273 pages, $14.95

Reviewed by David Preston

The Rosenberg case: for most Baby Boomers it is an historical footnote, something one recalls vaguely from a history class or a documentary on the Cold War. For older ...

Snitch: Informants, Cooperators & the Corruption of Justice, by Ethan Brown Public Affairs Publishing, 273 pages, $25.95

Snitch: Informants, Cooperators & the Corruption of Justice, by Ethan Brown Public Affairs Publishing, 273 pages, $25.95

Reviewed by David Preston

“Snitch” – the word is one of the most loaded in the English language. To the law enforcement community it means a bad guy gone good: someone who forsakes ...

Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights, 
by Trevor Paglen and A.C. Thompson. 
Melville House Publishing, 205 pages, $23.00

Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights, ?by Trevor Paglen and A.C. Thompson. ?Melville House Publishing, 205 pages, $23.00

Reviewed by David Preston

This innocuous-looking little book tilts at some pretty fearsome windmills. Kidnapping. Murder. Torture. Mind you, we’re not talking about the kind of stuff that ...

Crazy In America: The Hidden Tragedy Of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill, by Mary Beth Pfieffer (Carroll & Graf, 2007, 280 pp. $15.95)

Reviewed by David Preston

Imagine how tough your life would be if you were trying to cope with schizophrenia or severe depression. Plenty tough, right? Now imagine yourself, a schizophrenic, being suddenly torn from the shelter of your family, denied medication, and tossed into a punishment cell, essentially a sensory-deprivation ...