Letters To A Prisoner

A wordless story about the power of words

Selected letters from Incarcerated Persons requesting books from Books to Prisoners, a Prison Book Program.

“Heartbreaking and inspiring,” Nelson Mandela’s Prison Letters reveals his evolution “into one of the great moral heroes of our time” (New York Times). First published to mark the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela sparked celebrations around the globe for one of the “greatest warriors of all time” (O, The Oprah Magazine). Featuring 94 letters selected from that landmark collection, as well as six new letters that have never been published, this historic paperback provides an essential political history of the late twentieth century and illustrates how Mandela maintained his inner spirit while imprisoned. Whether they’re longing love letters to his wife, Winnie; heartrending notes to his beloved children; or articulations of a human-rights philosophy that resonates today, these letters reveal the heroism of a man who refused to compromise his moral values in the face of extraordinary human punishment, invoking a “story beyond their own words” (New York Times). This new paperback edition—essential for any literature lover, political activist, and student—positions Mandela among the most inspiring historical figures of the twentieth century.

Available for the first time in English, a moving prison correspondence between a husband and wife who resisted the Nazis. Tegel prison, Berlin, in the fall of 1944. Helmuth James von Moltke is awaiting trial for his leading role in the Kreisau Circle, one of the most important German resistance groups against the Nazis. By a near miracle, the prison chaplain at Tegel is Harald Poelchau, a friend and coconspirator of Helmuth and his wife, Freya. From Helmuth’s arrival at Tegel in late September 1944 until the day of his execution by the Nazis on January 23, 1945, Poelchau would carry Helmuth’s and Freya’s letters in and out of prison daily, risking his own life. Freya would safeguard these letters for the rest of her long life. Last Letters is a profoundly personal record of the couple’s fortitude in the face of fascism.

Hailed by Terry Eagleton in the Guardian as "definitive," this is the only complete and authoritative edition of Antonio Gramsci's deeply personal and vivid prison letters.

Consisting Of Reprints Of Documents By Political Prisoners In Soviet Prisons, Prison Camps And Exile, And Reprints Of Affidavits Concerning Political Persecution In Soviet Russia, Official Statements By Soviet Authorities, Excerpts From Soviet Laws Pertaining To Civil Liberties, And Other Documents. Introductory Letters Include Those By: Einstein, Emma Goldman, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Bertrand Russell, Harold Laski, Karl Capek, Maeterlinck, H. G. Wells, Rebecca West, Others.

'An extraordinary philosopher ... probably the most original communist thinker of twentieth-century Europe' Eric Hobsbawm'These letters are a noble and moving testament both to Mussolini's failure and to the courage and strength of will that drove Gramsci throughout his life' The Observer'Gramsci's letters ... demonstrate the originality of his brand of communist thought ... An extraordinary character, who does not deserve to be solely the property of academics and name-dropping cultural critics' The ScotsmanAntonio Gramsci is one of the great European Marxists, hailed by Eric Hobsbawm as 'an extraordinary philosopher ... probably the most original communist thinker of twentieth-century Europe'. His primary contribution has been in his insistence on an understanding of popular culture in the battle to create a revolutionary consciousness. It is this humanitarian aspect of his thinking that illuminates the vivid personal testimony of his prison letters, written between 1926 and 1937.