Her Majesty's Philosophers

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Her Majesty's Philosophers

Informative, entertaining, against the grain, Her Majesty's Philosophers highlights the artificiality of prison life. By a Guardian correspondent (and with extracts to be published in that newspaper) this book is set to be a penal affairs classic which every student of crime and punishment should read. Building on his Guardian pieces about teaching Philosophy in prison, this is Alan Smithâ€™s account in extenso. From introducing Plato to ever-changing groups of hard-nosed prisoners to them wrestling with Bentham, Larkin and Shakespeare, it is packed with insights and unexpected turns. It paints a picture in which worlds collide and conventional morality is turned inside out as â€˜new modes of discourseâ€™ change the menâ€™s thinking and ideas. At times surreal the book brings fresh perspectives to the minutiae of prison life: survival, coping, soap, teabags, cell mates, the constant noise and immediacy. And needless to say, the men come up with philosophical gems of their own. Her Majestyâ€™ Philosophers is also about isolation, the long hours, knockbacks and the emotional mutilation of imprisonment; and whilst philosophy is â€˜soft and fluffyâ€™ it contrasts starkly with the pragmatic world of prison officers, for whom the Holy Grail is Security, Keys and Prison Craft. The book charts how learning changes lives, especially for prisoners who missed out on formal education, whoâ€”once motivatedâ€”become voracious readers and extraordinary students. It demonstrates more than any official report the value of a wider agenda than Basic Skills. Prisons have been labelled â€˜Universities of Crimeâ€™, but colleges are increasingly populated by those who began their studies in a prison cell. In a book packed with wisdom and humour the author laments the fact that prison policy means that this is becoming a far less easy step.

â€˜Revealing, wry, provocativeâ€¦â€™: Amy Leavitt , Writer, USA.
â€˜Alan Smith isâ€¦a master story-tellerâ€™: Dick Gordon, The Story
â€˜The author has never flinched from telling the vivid truth about prison: how it can mess with peopleâ€™s mindsâ€™: Alice Woolley, The Guardian.
â€˜Keen perception and a natural gift for narrationâ€™: Benjamin Allen, South Texas College.
â€˜Witty, insightful and above all honestâ€¦ An essential read for anyone working in the criminal justice systemâ€™: Clive Hopwood, Director, Writers in Prison Foundation.

Alan Smith is a novelist whose columns for The Guardian introduced readers to some of the absorbing characters and true storylines in this book. A university lecturer as well as a prison tutor, he empathises with lifeâ€™s failuresâ€”and as he explains, Philosophy in prison may sound strange but neither was it a regular degree choice for someone brought up in the back streets of 1950s Sheffield.

Country	USA
Author	Alan Smith
Binding	Kindle Edition
EISBN	9781908162403
Format	Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
Label	Waterside Press
Manufacturer	Waterside Press
NumberOfPages	219
PublicationDate	2013-09-08
Publisher	Waterside Press
ReleaseDate	2013-09-08
Studio	Waterside Press

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