The Story Within Us: Women Prisoners Reflect on Reading

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© 2012 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 c p 5 4 3 2 1 ∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper. The Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Michigan offered generous financial support for publishing this book. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The story within us : women prisoners reflect on reading / edited by Megan Sweeney. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-252-03714-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)— isbn 978-0-252-07867-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)— isbn 978-0-252-09425-5 (e-book) 1. Women prisoners—United States—Books and reading. 2. Books and reading. 3. African American women—Books and reading. I. Sweeney, Megan hv9471.s844   2012 365.'43092273—dc23   2012009671 For the ninety-four women prisoners who generously shared their stories and insights [A]s a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree, So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all. —Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet [Books were] a glorious host, to keep me company. They kept alive my fancy, and my hope of something    beyond that place and time. . . . This was my only and my constant comfort. When I think of it, the picture always rises in my mind, of . . . sitting on my bed, reading as if for life. —Charles Dickens, David Copperfield ...