Letters from Alcatraz

This special audiobook edition has been completely revised and updated with new content including author interviews with James "Whitey" Bulger and a new chapter on Mickey Cohen. Note: This audiobook contains graphic depictions of crime and prison violence. Alcatraz Island was home to some of the nation's most notorious criminals. Prisoners include Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, James "Whitey" Bulger, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert Stroud - the Birdman of Alcatraz, Alvin Karpis, Henri Young, John and Clarence Anglin, and Roy Gardner. In Michael Esslinger's latest book, Letters from Alcatraz, the prisoners' stories come to life in their own words. With over 20 years of research, Esslinger, author of Alcatraz: Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, has salvaged and compiled an extraordinary collection of inmates' letters, many never before published. Letters From Alcatraz includes a foreword by former Alcatraz Officer Larry Quilligan and over 125 letters and original correspondence from inmates both on and off the Rock. Letters From Alcatraz is an epic exploration of a secret cloak-and-dagger culture once hidden behind a mythical curtain. This book is much more than a mere exercise in myth busting. Paired with its contextual and intrinsic complexities, Letters From Alcatraz grants listeners privileged access to the formidable confinement conditions endured by these inmates along with their compelling portraits, and a thorough overview of the rich history of Alcatraz Island. The depth of feeling in its story, its setting, its cast, and sheer inimitability, these are their lives in prose and the stories of the forgotten.... Read more