Reimagining Culture: Histories, Identities and the Gaelic Renaissance Book

When a PhD candidate (comparative literature, without a job, and feeling like an under achiever at age 33) finds employment teaching at a Vermont prison a fascinating and profound book emerges. The author deftly picks up on his students' stories - which are always interesting, and sometimes presented in many versions, as memory and allegations criss cross - and does not avoid the connections between the prisoners' misdeeds and his own real or imagined ones. There are also many good small essays on literature woven into the book. Maybe most importantly, there is a somewhat depressing overview of US prisons and the overwhelming challenges and problems of rehabilitation.