IN 1971, the inmates of Attica revolted, took hostages, and forced the authorities into four days of desperate negotiation. 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 theNew York Times, was one of those summoned. This is his account.
Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Attica Prison rebellion
One of the few first hand accounts of the events within the prison walls, and the only one written by an established and renowned journalist
Title will benefit from reinvigorated interest in issues of prison reform following the publication ofThe New Jim CrowTom Wicker, a former reporter, Washington bureau chief, and columnist forThe New York Times, is the author of several books, includingOn the Record. He lives in Rochester, Vermont.
Praise for the Haymarket edition
To get a sense of what was at stake at Attica in fully realized detail, Wickers extraordinary account of his four days among the observers, A Time to Die, is indispensable. With its intermingling of personal confession and public significance, it is a real masterpiece of the first wave of the nonfiction novel, as good, in its more sober way, as Mailers Armies of the Night.
New Yorker
It's a grim sign of our dark times that Tom Wicker's A Time to Die is now more timely than ever. Almost four decades after this book revealed to the world both the horrid conditions that led to the Attica prison revolt and the ensuing carnage and torture carried out by New York State authorities, America's prison system has evolved into one of the most hideous and massive violations of human rights on our planet today. Wicker's role at Attica was a life-changing experience for him, and this book he published in 1975 seemed at the time to blƒ1
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