Why read A Just Measure of Pain?

Book cover of A Just Measure of Pain: The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution, 1750-1850

Book description

Subtitled "The Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution 1750-1850", "A Just Measure of Pain" describes the moment in 18th century England when the modern penitentiary and its ambiguous legacy were born. In depicting how the whip, the brand and the gallows - public punishments once meant to cow the unruly poor…

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Just Measure of Pain as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

George Fisher

Author

Two centuries after Howard’s book awakened Britain to the cruelties of prison confinement, Michael Ignatieff traced the influence of Howard’s program of prison reform. That movement prompted construction across Britain of at least forty-five “reformed” prisons between 1775 and 1795.

When I first read Howard’s and Ignatieff’s books forty-five years ago, they sparked a lifelong interest in prisons, their evils, and how we might reform them.

From George's list on profound books on the history of the penitentiary and of its hopes and disappointments.