Includes bibliographical references (p. 274-279) and index.
The birth of a prison nation -- The scarlet letter and the long forever of Puritan punishment -- Reading the Rosenbergs : The public burning and the Book of Daniel -- Punishment, resistance, and the African-American experience -- The whip, the noose, the cell, and their lover : Melville and masochism -- Inside the American prison film -- Image burn : a Minority report on the future of US punishment.