The New Jim Crow

Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition

By: Michelle Alexander

Narrated by: Karen Chilton

Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times best seller list.

Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander’s unforgettable argument that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it”. As the Birmingham News proclaimed, it is “undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S.”

Now, 10 years after it was first published, The New Press is proud to issue a 10th-anniversary edition with a new preface by Michelle Alexander that discusses the impact the book has had and the state of the criminal justice reform movement today.

©2010, 2012, 2020 Michelle Alexander (P)2012, 2020 Recorded Books

An important read for all who treasure justice

Would you listen to The New Jim Crow again? Why?

This a very dense yet understandable expaination of a common corruption of US justice.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

It revealed the silent struggles of those people whom we, despite our race, consider as the others. It brought in sharp relief the perils of casual drug use and poverty. If you enjoyed the book the Working Poor, this book is the other side of the page. I would also add that the overriding sense of the fallacy of exceptionalism, as applied to any group. In brief, most people are not exceptional, yet should you need to be above average to live a good life, and have a secure future? Should poverty or race magnify your lack of exceptionalism often to the level of tragedy. Should a teenage indescretion doom you to never being eligble to vote, or be eliglble for any public assistance, including basic food security. And can we afford to keep and increasingly large segment of the population in custody or supervision?

Which scene was your favorite?

Although scenes are not relevant to this book, the most compelling understanding that I gained was the impact of many seemingly innocous supreme court decisions.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The stories about how grandmothers have been evicted from public housing because their grandson was arrested for drug possesion in a nearby park. Also, the explaination of pretex stops as a policy to search vehicles.

Any additional comments?

We should all be aware of this and many other forms of corruption that are rife in the US justice and legislative systems. If not from a sense of fairness, then from a sense of self peservation. As this population becomes more diverse these kinds of injustices are the meat and gravy of widespread social unrest. As our economy becomes increasingly dependent on machines, websites, and automation more and more people will be forced out of the mainstream of American life, and into the disenfranchised. Remember the history of the French revolution.

Inexcusable and indefensible.

What made the experience of listening to The New Jim Crow the most enjoyable?

This book documents the war on drugs with all of its impact on our society. While the war may benefit the owners of commercial jails, the impact on people of color is tragic. It is hard to imagine that this book cn be ignored, and change is inevitable if .it is widely read by intelligent and honest people.

What did you like best about this story?

All that is necessary for evil totriumph is for good people to do nothing. I doubt that anyone, even Republicans, will read this book and not seek change..

Have you listened to any of Karen Chilton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Important message

Repetitive and boring style, reads like a graduate thesis, but the message it delivers is powerful and needs to be heard.

Wow! Enlightening and heart wrenching.

As a privileged white female I have to admit that I had never heard the term mass incarceration until I became a follower of Bernie Sanders and his movement. In doing follow up research on the topic, Michelle‘s book was recommended to me by my college age son. I truly had no idea what the situation was as it is and I am frankly horrified. I am hopeful that with Bernie Sanders and the black lives matter movement, that this is becoming a more mainstream topic and that something will be done about it. She is so wise to recommend a class and human movement against the powerful oppressors versus what has clearly been a well-designed race division for the past 30 to 40 years. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is truly interested in social justice. Especially those of us who have no idea what African Americans truly face.

Shocking Revelations

The book opened my eyes to so many things, yet the Media, and Polititains are very quiet about this issue.

The book was filled with statics and revelations about the drug war and the prison system, and how it contributes to homelessness and the fractured family.

It shows there is no effort to help make appropriate changes to the judicial system.

I was surprised that the Men and women we pay to judge the defendant who may see redeeming value has no right to change a sentence or provide mental care.

I would recommend the book to anyone who is a citizen of this country to see where our tax dollar is going.

Must read!

What did you love best about The New Jim Crow?

It sheds light on a shameful truth and on its ramifications on the American economy.

Captured my Attention

Ms. Alexander does an admirable job of explaining the origins of The New Black Crow. Many undesirable practices have been hatched in smokey, back room roosts; what is later seen are wolves in sheep's clothing. The results of her inquiry into these present day circumstances attests to this. ... Years ago, I had the good fortune to hear a talk given by Julian Bond. He quoted, of all people, Governor Lester (pickaxe handle) Maddox. Maddox said that if the outcome of incarceration were to improve, that, prisons would need a better class of prisoners. Maddox recognized that prisoners were, in large, often poorly nourished & educated, in a poor state of physical and mental health and seriously destined to further failure post incarceration. All these years later, history bears his statements to be true.

Must read!

Everyone needs to read/listen to this book. I feel so enlightened to a world I didn’t know existed.

A must

For all people looking to understand the current racial caste system we live with, this book is on point. I cannot recommend it enough!

Incredibly Insightful

This book does an excellent job highlighting the historical and political factors that have contributed to such a great deficit in justice for so many.