A History of Alcatraz Island: 1853-2008

A History of Alcatraz Island: 1853-2008
Author: Gregory L. Wellman
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738558158

As one of America's most notorious prisons, Alcatraz has been a significant part of California's history for over 155 years. The small, lonely rock, known in sea charts by its Spanish name "Isla de los Alcatraces," or "Island of Pelicans," lay essentially dormant until the 1850s, when the military converted the island into a fortress to protect the booming San Francisco region. Alcatraz served as a pivotal military position until the early 20th century and in 1934 was converted into a federal penitentiary to house some of America's most incorrigible prisoners. The penitentiary closed in 1963, and Alcatraz joined the National Park Service system in 1972. Since then, it has remained a popular attraction as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Alcatraz from Inside

Alcatraz from Inside
Author: Jim Quillen
Publisher: Golden Gate National Park Assn
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1991
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780962520617

In this fascinating autobiographical account, Jim Quillen tells the amazing story of his decade incarcerated in America's most infamous prison -- how he got there, how he stayed alive inside, and, most important, how he found the inspiration and courage to get out.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz
Author: Michael Esslinger
Publisher:
Total Pages: 608
Release: 2016-11-22
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 9780970461469

ALCATRAZ: the name alone said it all... It was meant to send a shudder down the spines of the nation's most incorrigible criminals. It stripped Al Capone of his power. It tamed "Machine Gun" Kelly into a model of decorum. It took the birds away from the Birdman of Alcatraz.This mammoth reference navigates the island's history through rarely seen documents, interviews and hundreds of pages of historic photographs. Author interviews range from men such as legendary FBI fugitive James Whitey Bulger; Dale Stamphill, a principle in the 1938 escape with Doc Barker and Henry Young; to Atom Spy Morton Sobell, the co-defendant of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Michael Esslinger thoroughly details the prominent events, inmates, and life inside the most infamous prison in American History. His research included hundreds of hours examining actual Alcatraz inmate case files (including rare original documents from Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and over a hundred others) exploring the prison grounds from the rooftop to the waterfront to help retrace events, escape routes, in addition to conducting various interviews with former inmates and guards. His study has resulted in detailed accounts of all the recorded escape attempts including the Battle of Alcatraz. A detailed account of the 1962 escape of Frank Morris and the Anglin Brothers provides rare insight extracted through photos, and over 1,700 pages of FBI and Bureau of Prisons investigative notes. Detailed narratives of Alcatraz's most notable inmates who include Robert Stroud (Birdman of Alcatraz), Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Frank Morris, the Anglin Brothers, Doc Barker, Joe Cretzer, Bernard Coy, Miran Thompson, Sam Shockley, and many-many others. Alcatraz: A History of the Penitentiary Years, is a comprehensive reference on the history of Alcatraz and contains one of the most comprehensive archives of inmate and prison life photographs (over 1,000).

Hidden Alcatraz

Hidden Alcatraz
Author: Steve Fritz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 9780520260849

"This collection of photographs is at once beautiful and haunting. It captures the unique mood of this small but fabled rock anchored off of that small but fabled city of San Francisco. Anyone who knows of the legend of Alcatraz will want this book." Gray Brechin, historical geographer and author of Farewell, Promised Land and Imperial San Francisco "The photographers were not just tourists to 'the Rock.' Their unique access enabled them to become participants in an evolving history and address the experience of over two hundred years of human occupation on this fascinating island." Mark Klett, photographer, After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire

Alcatraz Screw

Alcatraz Screw
Author: George H. Gregory
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2013-12-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0826263739

Alcatraz Screw is a firsthand account from a prison guard’s perspective of some of the most storied years at the infamous U.S. Penitentiary at Alcatraz. George Gregory began his career as a guard for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1940. Following his training, he was sent to the federal prison at Sandstone, Minnesota. A few years later he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Badly wounded at Iwo Jima, he returned to Sandstone after a long rehabilitation. When the Bureau of Prisons closed Sandstone in 1947, Gregory was transferred to Alcatraz, which had been a federal penitentiary since 1934. For the next fifteen years, Gregory worked on “The Rock.” He takes the reader along on a correctional officer’s tour of duty, showing what it was like to pull a lonely, tedious night of sentry duty in the Road Tower, or witness illicit transactions in the clothing room, or forcibly quell a riot in the cell blocks. Gregory provides an insider’s account of the tenures of all four of Alcatraz’s wardens and their sometimes contradictory approaches to administering the institution. He knew and regularly interacted with such legendary inmates as Robert Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz) and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. Without glamorizing or demonizing either the staff or the convicts, Alcatraz Screw provides a candid portrayal of corruption, drug abuse, and sexual practices, as well as efforts at reform and unrecorded acts of kindness. Various incidents in the memoir convey the fear, hatred, frustration, boredom, and unavoidable tension of being incarcerated. With the inclusion of maps and diagrams of Alcatraz Island, as well as photographs of inmates, officers, and the prison itself, this book offers insight into life at the notorious Alcatraz from an unprecedented perspective.

The Occupation of Alcatraz Island

The Occupation of Alcatraz Island
Author: Troy R. Johnson
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780252065859

The occupation of Alcatraz Island by American Indians from November 20, 1969, through June 11, 1971, focused the attention of the public on Native Americans and helped lead to the development of organized Indian activism.In this first detailed examination of the takeover, Troy Johnson tells the story of those who organized the occupation and those who participated, some by living on the island and others by soliciting donations of money, food, water, clothing, or electrical generators.Johnson documents growing unrest in the Bay Area urban Indian population and draws on interviews with those involved to describe everyday life on Alcatraz during the nineteen-month occupation. To describe the federal government's reactions as Americans rallied in support of the Indians, he turns to federal government archives and Nixon administration files. The book is a must read for historians and others interested in the civil rights era, Native American history, and contemporary American Indian issues.

The Children of Alcatraz

The Children of Alcatraz
Author: Claire Rudolf Murphy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 72
Release: 2006-09-19
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0802795773

Offers a look at the life of the children who grew up on this infamous island with their families throughout its long and diverse history as a military prison, maximum security prison, and site of a Native American uprising, enhanced with period photos, interviews, and first-hand accounts.

Last Guard Out

Last Guard Out
Author: Jim Albright
Publisher: Author House
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2008-03-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1452065012

The Last Guard Out is the fascinating true story of one man's life as a guard behind the merciless concrete walls of Alcatraz. I was newly assigned to the infamous island penitentiary of Alcatraz. Reporting to Alcatraz required me to uproot my wife Cathy and young son Kenny from Colorado to California. As we approached San Francisco via of the Oakland Bay Bridge we got our first foreboding glance of Alcatraz Island with a dense circle of fog surrounding it. A strange sense of dread came over me. I looked at our young son asleep in the back seat, then turned to my wife next to me and I whispered "What The Hell Did We Do". After moving on to Alcatraz our thought on Island life quickly changed and we decided not to apply for a transfer out, which consequently left us there until the Island closed in March of 1963. Because of our newly born daughters foot problem they left us there until June of 1963 making me The Last Guard Out.

Fortress Alcatraz

Fortress Alcatraz
Author: John A. Martini
Publisher:
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781580086264

San Francisco historian John Arturo Martini explains the fascinating history of this landmark, from its discovery and seizure to its role during wartime; its tenure as a maximum-security federal prison; and finally to its present-day status as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This book is also lavishly illustrated with 150 diagrams and archival photographs, including rare 1869 photos by Eadweard Muybridge.