Bringing together a range of first-hand testimonies of captives, this personal and arresting collection provides an overview of what life inside is actually like. Drawing on memoirs of captives - including those imprisoned for stealing money, murder, illegal protest or no reason at all - this book presents the universal experience of being incarcerated and brings to life the humanity of those behind locked doors. Tracing the career of the captive from the moment the door is first locked behind them, to analysis of the oddities of relationships developed in prison and how the deprivation of sex is dealt with, the book then reflects on the cruelties faced while inside, and concludes by looking at the problems faced when the supposedly happy day of release finally arrives. These insightful accounts help empathise and reflect on the impact of prison practices on inmates.

Over nearly fifty years, Eleanor Ross Taylor has established herself as one of the foremost southern poets of her generation. Captive Voices gathers selections from Taylor's five previous books along with a generous helping of new poems. Scintillating, unusual, passionate, and profound, the poems range from contemporary pieces about a bag lady on a bus, to historical pieces about settlers held hostage and a wartime nurse caring for British wounded, to intensely personal poems about her dislike for her grandmother and worries about her son. The title poem -- a real tour de force -- explores the notion of captivity on several levels as it speaks to the suffering we all endure, some of which is of our own making. Decidedly regional yet determinedly universal, the poems in this remarkable volume, along with a foreword by Ellen Bryant Voigt, attest to the singular talent of a woman justly described as "a poet of genius."

Doyle shows that, though setting and circumstances may change, POW stories share a common structure and are driven by similar themes. Capture, incarceration, isolation, propaganda, torture, capitulation or resistance, death, spiritual quest, escape, liberation and repatriation are recurrent key motifs in these narratives.

"Billy J. Stratton's critical examination of Mary Rowlandson's 1682 publication, The Soveraignty and Goodness of God, reconsiders the role of the captivity narrative in American literary history and national identity. With pivotal new research into Puritan minister Increase Mather's influence on the narrative, Stratton calls for a reconsideration of past scholarly work on the genre"--Provided by publisher.

This translation originally copyrighted in 2010.

"A memoir from an influential Columbus Zoo gorilla keeper and conservationist"--