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Waiting for an Echo

The Madness of American Incarceration

Author Christine Montross
Listen to a clip Look inside
Paperback
$18.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
On sale Jul 20, 2021 | 352 Pages | 978-0-14-311066-8
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  • Interdisciplinary Studies > Social Science > American Studies
  • Political Science > American Government and Politics > Social Welfare Policy
  • Psychology > Abnormal and Clinical Psychology > Abnormal Psychology
  • Psychology > Abnormal and Clinical Psychology > Adult Psychopathology
  • Psychology > Abnormal and Clinical Psychology > Community Psychology
  • Psychology > Abnormal and Clinical Psychology > Trauma Counseling
  • Psychology > Social and Applied Psychology > Psychology of Law
  • Social Work > Human Behavior > Human Behavior and the Social Environment
  • Social Work > Social Welfare > Social Welfare Policy
  • Sociology > Criminal Justice > Specialized Courses
  • Sociology > Social Problems > Social Problems
  • Criminal Justice > Comparative Criminal Justice
  • Criminal Justice > Corrections
  • Criminal Justice > Criminal Law
  • Criminal Justice > Criminology
  • Criminal Justice > Ethics in Criminal Justice
  • About
  • Author
“A haunting and harrowing indictment . . . [a] significant achievement.” —The New York Times Book Review

L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist * New York Times Book Review Paperback Row * Time Best New Books July 2020

Waiting for an Echo is a riveting, rarely seen glimpse into American jails and prisons. It is also a damning account of policies that have criminalized mental illness, shifting large numbers of people who belong in therapeutic settings into punitive ones.

Dr. Christine Montross has spent her career treating the most severely ill psychiatric patients. This expertise—the mind in crisis—has enabled her to reckon with the human stories behind mass incarceration. A father attempting to weigh the impossible calculus of a plea bargain. A bright young woman whose life is derailed by addiction. Boys in a juvenile detention facility who, desperate for human connection, invent a way to communicate with one another from cell to cell. Overextended doctors and correctional officers who strive to provide care and security in environments riddled with danger.

Our methods of incarceration take away not only freedom but also selfhood and soundness of mind. In a nation where 95 percent of all inmates are released from prison and return to our communities, this is a practice that punishes us all.
© © Elena Seibert
Dr. Christine Montross, a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in General  Nonfiction, is an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a practicing inpatient psychiatrist. She is an award-winning poet and the author of Body of Work and Falling into the Fire. View titles by Christine Montross

About

“A haunting and harrowing indictment . . . [a] significant achievement.” —The New York Times Book Review

L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist * New York Times Book Review Paperback Row * Time Best New Books July 2020

Waiting for an Echo is a riveting, rarely seen glimpse into American jails and prisons. It is also a damning account of policies that have criminalized mental illness, shifting large numbers of people who belong in therapeutic settings into punitive ones.

Dr. Christine Montross has spent her career treating the most severely ill psychiatric patients. This expertise—the mind in crisis—has enabled her to reckon with the human stories behind mass incarceration. A father attempting to weigh the impossible calculus of a plea bargain. A bright young woman whose life is derailed by addiction. Boys in a juvenile detention facility who, desperate for human connection, invent a way to communicate with one another from cell to cell. Overextended doctors and correctional officers who strive to provide care and security in environments riddled with danger.

Our methods of incarceration take away not only freedom but also selfhood and soundness of mind. In a nation where 95 percent of all inmates are released from prison and return to our communities, this is a practice that punishes us all.

Author

© © Elena Seibert
Dr. Christine Montross, a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in General  Nonfiction, is an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a practicing inpatient psychiatrist. She is an award-winning poet and the author of Body of Work and Falling into the Fire. View titles by Christine Montross

Additional formats

  • Waiting for an Echo
    Waiting for an Echo
    The Madness of American Incarceration
    Christine Montross
    978-0-593-21129-8
    $20.00 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Jul 21, 2020
  • Waiting for an Echo
    Waiting for an Echo
    The Madness of American Incarceration
    Christine Montross
    978-0-698-15276-2
    $9.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Jul 21, 2020
  • Waiting for an Echo
    Waiting for an Echo
    The Madness of American Incarceration
    Christine Montross
    978-1-59420-597-2
    $28.00 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Jul 21, 2020
  • Waiting for an Echo
    Waiting for an Echo
    The Madness of American Incarceration
    Christine Montross
    978-0-593-21129-8
    $20.00 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Jul 21, 2020
  • Waiting for an Echo
    Waiting for an Echo
    The Madness of American Incarceration
    Christine Montross
    978-0-698-15276-2
    $9.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Jul 21, 2020
  • Waiting for an Echo
    Waiting for an Echo
    The Madness of American Incarceration
    Christine Montross
    978-1-59420-597-2
    $28.00 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Jul 21, 2020

Other Books by this Author

  • Falling Into the Fire
    Falling Into the Fire
    A Psychiatrist's Encounters with the Mind in Crisis
    Christine Montross
    978-0-14-312571-6
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Jul 29, 2014
  • Body of Work
    Body of Work
    Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab
    Christine Montross
    978-0-14-311366-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    May 27, 2008
  • Falling Into the Fire
    Falling Into the Fire
    A Psychiatrist's Encounters with the Mind in Crisis
    Christine Montross
    978-0-14-312571-6
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Jul 29, 2014
  • Body of Work
    Body of Work
    Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab
    Christine Montross
    978-0-14-311366-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    May 27, 2008
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