Quote for the Day: "Serving time in Marquette Prison, on the shore of the largest freshwater lake in the world, must be like dying on the first day of spring, day after day." Loren Estleman, Downriver. 1988.
Reviews
Prison: The Inside Story by Jack Myette
This is an utterly fascinating and eye-opening look at prison life in Michigan. The author spent 25 years working in prisons starting as a correctional officer and retired as a teacher helping inmates pass the GED. The author was a keen observer and over 25 years filled a shoebox of small notebooks in which he recorded unusual, important, and insightful prison events along with a multitude of character sketches of both prisoners and correction officers. The book is especially engaging because the author writes fairly and honestly of prisoners and correctional officers.
The author quickly learns life in prison, for both convict and guard, is a world turned upside down. If "politeness and congeniality" are accepted norms outside prison walls, inside they are a weakness and can attract predators. Prisoners constantly try to intimidate and manipulate each other and even guards, especially rookies. Some correction officers are out and out bullies who show convicts absolutely no respect as human beings. It is evidently OK with administration because bullies are promoted. The author's first assignment was to a unit for the criminally insane. They were allowed out of their cells and their guards were expected to mingle and play pool or games like Scrabble with them. They were all sticks of dynamite with short fuses.
The book is filled with unique characters, interesting historical highlights, and just plain great stories told by the author about prisoners, fellow guards, and unique events. Pick up this book and you'll find yourself serving a memorable 287-page sentence.
Prison: The Inside Story by Jack Myette. Mission Point Press, 2025, 287p., $20.95.
Moral Treatment by Stephanie Carpenter
This novel takes the reader on a deep dive into psychiatric practice in 1880s. The author is from Traverse City, and she has used her hometown's closed psychiatric hospital as the model in her book. Her extensive research ranges from exploring the hospital's still standing buildings, to reading the hospital's biannual reports, a memoir on working at the hospital, and numerous historical journals and texts on the treatment of the insane.
The result is a historical novel that immerses the reader in a meticulous recreation of psychiatric care and theory in 1880s as experience by two main characters and several equally convincing minor characters. Seventeen-year-old Amy Underwood has been brought to the hospital by her parents. She rarely talks, is prone to running away and self-mutilation. She is withdrawn, has episodes of strange behavior, and may be a sex addict. Dr. Foly, the hospital's superintendent talks with Amy and her parents, and admits the young women to the hospital determined she is suffering from Pubescent Insanity. The Dr. prescribes Moral Treatment which includes good food, rest, sound influences, and morphine. Amy struggles to adjust to life in the hospital yet wonders whether she wants to return home. The aging Dr. Foly is unaware that he is growing evermore outdated as psychiatry enters a new age and doesn't realize he is losing control of the hospital.
This is a masterful historical novel that authoritatively brings to life the practice of psychiatry in northern Michigan nearly 150 years ago. It is not only the extensive research and narrative skill that marks this novel as special but allowing the reader to experience 1880 psychiatry through the wonderfully drawn character of Amy Underwood. The book is the winner of the inaugural Summit Series Prize from Central Michigan University Press.
Moral Treatment by Stephanie Carpenter. Central Michigan University Press, 2025, 367p., $19.95.
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