Contempt of Court is the story of one man's 'constitutional struggle,' as Rik Scarce puts it, a fight in support of the First Amendment, but an intensely personal struggle as well. His journey to and through jail is a moving study in courage and American ideals in practice. Anyone interested in the darker side of our criminal justice system, and in the lives of all those who are locked in our jails, will find in Contempt of Court a first-hand account like none other.

Richard A. Leo, University of California, Irvine

Books dealing with life in prison typically have relied on interviews or questionnaires administered by social scientists or informal descriptions by prisoners who are not social scientists. This book by sociologist Rik Scarce bridges this gap with a penetrating ethnographic analysis based on his 159 days of incarceration, occasioned by his refusal to identify the subjects used in his dissertation. He brings the prison situation to life to a degree that few have been able to achieve.

John F. Galliher, Missouri University-Columbia