An intriguing history of Alcatraz Island and its infamous prison, located off the coast of San Francisco, from the earliest years of Spanish exploration to the present day. Highlighting the unique geographical features of the island, it shows how Alcatraz went through many changes, being used over the years as a military facility, a notorious federal penitentiary widely believed to be escape-proof, as well as the site of American Indian uprisings.
ALCATRAZ: the name alone said it all... It was meant to send a shudder down the spines of the nation's most incorrigible criminals. It stripped Al Capone of his power. It tamed "Machine Gun" Kelly into a model of decorum. It took the birds away from the Birdman of Alcatraz.This mammoth reference navigates the island's history through rarely seen documents, interviews and hundreds of pages of historic photographs. Author interviews range from men such as legendary FBI fugitive James Whitey Bulger; Dale Stamphill, a principle in the 1938 escape with Doc Barker and Henry Young; to Atom Spy Morton Sobell, the co-defendant of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Michael Esslinger thoroughly details the prominent events, inmates, and life inside the most infamous prison in American History. His research included hundreds of hours examining actual Alcatraz inmate case files (including rare original documents from Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and over a hundred others) exploring the prison grounds from the rooftop to the waterfront to help retrace events, escape routes, in addition to conducting various interviews with former inmates and guards. His study has resulted in detailed accounts of all the recorded escape attempts including the Battle of Alcatraz. A detailed account of the 1962 escape of Frank Morris and the Anglin Brothers provides rare insight extracted through photos, and over 1,700 pages of FBI and Bureau of Prisons investigative notes. Detailed narratives of Alcatraz's most notable inmates who include Robert Stroud (Birdman of Alcatraz), Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Frank Morris, the Anglin Brothers, Doc Barker, Joe Cretzer, Bernard Coy, Miran Thompson, Sam Shockley, and many-many others. Alcatraz: A History of the Penitentiary Years, is a comprehensive reference on the history of Alcatraz and contains one of the most comprehensive archives of inmate and prison life photographs (over 1,000).
An intriguing history of Alcatraz Island and its infamous prison, located off the coast of San Francisco, from the earliest years of Spanish exploration to the present day. Highlighting the unique geographical features of the island, it shows how Alcatraz went through many changes, being used over the years as a military facility, a notorious federal penitentiary widely believed to be escape-proof, as well as the site of American Indian uprisings.
Offers a look at the life of the children who grew up on this infamous island with their families throughout its long and diverse history as a military prison, maximum security prison, and site of a Native American uprising, enhanced with period photos, interviews, and first-hand accounts.
"This collection of photographs is at once beautiful and haunting. It captures the unique mood of this small but fabled rock anchored off of that small but fabled city of San Francisco. Anyone who knows of the legend of Alcatraz will want this book." Gray Brechin, historical geographer and author of Farewell, Promised Land and Imperial San Francisco "The photographers were not just tourists to 'the Rock.' Their unique access enabled them to become participants in an evolving history and address the experience of over two hundred years of human occupation on this fascinating island." Mark Klett, photographer, After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
Alcatraz Screw is a firsthand account from a prison guard’s perspective of some of the most storied years at the infamous U.S. Penitentiary at Alcatraz. George Gregory began his career as a guard for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1940. Following his training, he was sent to the federal prison at Sandstone, Minnesota. A few years later he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Badly wounded at Iwo Jima, he returned to Sandstone after a long rehabilitation. When the Bureau of Prisons closed Sandstone in 1947, Gregory was transferred to Alcatraz, which had been a federal penitentiary since 1934. For the next fifteen years, Gregory worked on “The Rock.” He takes the reader along on a correctional officer’s tour of duty, showing what it was like to pull a lonely, tedious night of sentry duty in the Road Tower, or witness illicit transactions in the clothing room, or forcibly quell a riot in the cell blocks. Gregory provides an insider’s account of the tenures of all four of Alcatraz’s wardens and their sometimes contradictory approaches to administering the institution. He knew and regularly interacted with such legendary inmates as Robert Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz) and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. Without glamorizing or demonizing either the staff or the convicts, Alcatraz Screw provides a candid portrayal of corruption, drug abuse, and sexual practices, as well as efforts at reform and unrecorded acts of kindness. Various incidents in the memoir convey the fear, hatred, frustration, boredom, and unavoidable tension of being incarcerated. With the inclusion of maps and diagrams of Alcatraz Island, as well as photographs of inmates, officers, and the prison itself, this book offers insight into life at the notorious Alcatraz from an unprecedented perspective.
In Escaping Alcatraz: The Untold Story of the Greatest Prison Break in American History, Alcatraz Historian Michael Esslinger and David Widner, nephew of the Anglin brothers, both featured in the History Channel documentary Alcatraz: Search for the Truth, have compiled hundreds of photographs, FBI and Bureau of Prisons investigative notes, original source documents from the Anglin family library, inmate case file records, interviews with key convicts and officers, and first-person accounts of officials who investigated the escape to produce one of the most detailed accounts of the famed prison break.NOTE: This book contains graphic depictions and photographs of extreme crime and violence and may not be suitable for all readers.
Escape from Alcatraz: Farewell to the Rock, was published in 1963 just weeks before the last prisoner was escorted off Devil's Island and Alcatraz. The book chronicles details the Rock's transition from a Spanish fort to the maximum-security prison that housed infamous inmates including Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz", and mobster Al Capone. Also included are the escape attempts by Frank Morris and two accomplices, becoming the basis for the 1979 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. Author J. Campbell Bruce (1906-1996) was a feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, a lecturer, and a regular contributor to national magazines.
In this brilliant history of Prohibition and its most notorious gangster, acclaimed biographer Laurence Bergreen takes us to the gritty streets of Chicago where Al Capone forged his sinister empire. Bergreen shows the seedy and glamorous sides of the age, the rise of Prohibition, the illicit liquor trade, the battlefield that was Chicago. Delving beyond the Capone mythology. Bergreen finds a paradox: a coldblooded killer, thief, pimp, and racketeer who was also a devoted son and father; a self-styled Robin Hood who rose to the top of organized crime. Capone is a masterful portrait of an extraordinary time and of the one man who reigned supreme over it all, Al Capone.
Psychological profiles of the most famous prisoners on Alcatraz including Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Doc Barker, Creepy Karpis, Mickey Cohen, Whitey Bulger + nine others.
