'In September 1971, the inmates of Attica, the upstate New York prison, revolted, took hostages, and forced the authorities into four days of desperate negotiation. At the outset the rebels demanded – and were granted – the presence of a group of observers to act as unofficial mediators. Tom Wicker, then the associate editor of the New York Times, was one of those summoned. As time ran out, Wicker personally attempted to persuade Governor Rockefeller to visit Attica, but failed. In the end, a police attack was launched, and as a result dozens of prisoners, as well as prison employees, were killed. Hour by painful hour, this account moves toward its ultimate, and needless, tragedy. A Time to Dieis not just another exposure of prison conditions: it is a gripping suspense story, and it raises questions that all democratic societies will have to try to answer.'
Tom Wicker. Haymarket Books, 2011.
Product Code: 9781608462155