Product Description

Anecdotal history of people who lived, worked and were prisoners on Alcatraz, including the author, who lived there twice as a child. Included many photographs, source notes and index. Has sold more than 100,00 copies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140832 in Books
• Published on: 1988-07
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 127 pages

From Publishers Weekly
As a child of seven, Babyak went to live on "The Rock" in the 1950s. Her father, Arthur Dollison, was office manager of the prison's industries and later associate warden. Through interviews with former employees and their families, Babyak compiles a series of inside reminiscences that excludes readers. Dull and gray, like imagined prison walls, the prose is replete with restrictions ("Women and children were forbidden on the shoreline during daylight hours while prisoners were out of their cells. Families were not permitted dogs or cats") and with ordinary events like fishing (when the water on the west side of the island teemed with bass and "you could not get your line back without a fish on it"). Perhaps Babyak describes the crux of her book's problem when she admits, "Seemingly ordinary concerns took on exaggerated meaning on an island prison," or when she explains that "because our fathers felt that few outsiders understood their problems, prison people often remained insulated. Vacations in our household tended to include tours to other prisons . . . " She provides sparse, dry reports on escapes and attempted escapes, hints vaguely at complex prisoner-guard relationships and repeatedly fails to delve into potentially fascinating material. Photos.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bookwatch, 1988
"Others have attempted the history of the prison; few offer the diversity of interviews and personal approach."

Berkeley Voice
"What is remarkable is the way in which many of the pictures convey a sense of a normal, orderly, domestic life..."

Customer Reviews

Babyak Is Premier Alcatraz Historian
Jolene Babyak has written three excellent books about Alcatraz Island. This one is an easy read with no real heavy or serious material. But the purpose of the book is to describe what it was like as an Alcatraz resident. And Babyak again delivers.

If you're looking for stories of Al Capone and escapes, there are plenty of books by former inmates and guards. (Although Babyak's account of the escape of '62 is definitive.) But if you desire to swallow as much Alcatraz knowledge as possible, you must have this book.

Babyak is considered the top authority on Alcatraz. In fact, park rangers go to her with historical questions. She has personally interviewed more AZ inmates (including significant ones like Clarence Carnes who survived the "Battle of '46" and Dale Stamphill who was right beside Doc Barker when the guards shot him in the head) than any other author. This lady will educate you about Alcatraz.

Fascinating Memoir!
I found this book to be a fascinating memoir of an aspect of the island that not many people stop to consider. Ms Babyak demonstrates both a superior knowledge of Alcatraz history, as well as a unique viewpoint of an island resident that is neither guard nor inmate.

not worth reading
AS A PERSON WHO HAS READ MOST BOOKS ON ALCATRAZ, I WANTED TO ADD THIS ONE TO MY COLLECTION, TO PICK UP ANY INSIGHTS THAT THE OTHERS MISSED...WELL, KEEP YOUR MONEY...JOLENE, NEVER MAKES A CASE FOR ANYTHING NEW, DESCRIBES MOSTLY SECOND HAND KNOWLEDGE, AND READILY ADMITS, THAT THE ONLY THING SHE REALLY REMEMBERS IS PLAYING ON THE CEMENT COURT YARD AS A LITTLE GIRL!!

THERE ARE BETTER BOOKS THERE...MOVE ON...