Abstract

The Independent Eye

This article presents the author's views on books included in issue. Barbara Bush's autobiography or author Danielle Steel's "Wings or The Bell Curve" is a must read. Jerome Washington's memoir "Iron House: Stories From the Yard" consists of a series of vignettes, short stories and aphorisms depicting Washington's prison life, where he learned and first practiced the craft of writing. This is raw stuff, telling a story of drugs and alcohol; of rape, murder and vengeance; of illiteracy and its ramifications; of hatred, both for oneself and for others; and of the daily struggle to remain human not only in this environment but in the face of the arbitrary and dehumanizing power of the state--including the author's First Amendment case over the seizure of his writing and typewriter, and his transfer to Attica for "reprogramming."