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Peter Grant
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Walls, Wire, Bars and Souls Kindle Edition

by Peter Grant (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
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Who are the hardest of the hard-core criminals in the USA? What made them do the things they've done? What's life really like for them behind bars? And who are the people who make sure they stay there?

“Walls, Wire, Bars and Souls” is a first-hand account from a chaplain's perspective of the real word behind the razor wire in America's high-security prisons. It ranges from hideous brutality to mundane boredom and everything in between. In these pages you'll meet everyone from some of the most evil psychopaths in existence, to those whose only crimes were on paper and hurt nobody. They're all dumped into the penitentiary meat-grinder together, with results that are sometimes agonizing, often frustrating, and occasionally very funny.
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  1. Print length
    294 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    September 16, 2013
  5. File size
    2418 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Finding someone who can draw the mental picture of Detentions/Corrections for Joe Citizen is priceless. Peter Grant is one such person. He writes this book as an astute observer of the human condition, who has the uncommon ability to take the results of years of observations and make them comprehensible to the average reader.

What is in this book is not comfortable to think about, but it is reality. Parts of it may give the average reader nightmares - but that doesn't make it any less true.

-- from the Foreword by Ian McMurtrie

About the Author

Peter Grant was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. Between military service, the IT industry and humanitarian involvement, he traveled throughout sub-Saharan Africa before being ordained as a pastor. He later emigrated to the USA, where he worked as a pastor and prison chaplain until an injury forced his retirement. He is now a full-time writer, and married to a pilot from Alaska. They currently live in Tennessee.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00F98NJYM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fynbos Press; 1st edition (September 16, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 16, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2418 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
  • Customer Reviews:

About the author

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Peter Grant

Peter Grant

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Peter Grant was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. Between military service, the IT industry and humanitarian involvement, he traveled throughout sub-Saharan Africa before being ordained as a pastor. He later emigrated to the USA, where he worked as a pastor and prison chaplain until an injury forced his retirement. He is now a full-time writer, and married to a pilot from Alaska. They currently live in Texas.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
79 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book fascinating and interesting. They also praise the writing style as well written, clearheaded, and leavened with dry humor. Readers describe the book as richly detailed, relatable, and compassionate. They mention the pace as quick.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

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ContentWriting styleRelatableEmpathyPacePracticality
19 customers mention "Content"19 positive0 negative

Customers find the book fascinating, interesting, and good. They also say the author knows his subject matter very well, and is impressed with his values and insight into the military. Readers also say it's an invaluable look at the current state of the modern American prison system.

"...His suggestions for system reform seem radical, but they are worthy of consideration, and I wholeheartedly agree with a number of his conclusions...." Read more

"...Overall, however, this is an excellent and well-researched book about the prison system and those within it...." Read more

"...It gives an outstanding insight into the workings of a federal prison, looks at the issues our society is reacting to and creating through our..." Read more

"...anecdotes of prison life were well picked and well written, providing a good insight into the working of the prison, and a feel for the life lead by..." Read more

14 customers mention "Writing style"12 positive2 negative

Customers find the writing style well written, with strong, articulated comments on life. They also say the writings on prison reform are well thought out, with humor and a sense of humanity. Readers also mention that the book provides a clearheaded look at life inside prison, with excellent suggestions for reform from a real-life experience.

"...most starkly terrifying walls any of us can imagine, are leavened with his dry humor and skillful writing...." Read more

"...The anecdotes of prison life were well picked and well written, providing a good insight into the working of the prison, and a feel for the life..." Read more

"...He writes with humor and a sense of humanity, reminding the reader that while the men are convicted criminals, some of them guilty of truly heinous..." Read more

"...Each was well written and interesting in its own right, but the combination feels forced, as if a German historian were reading Grimms' Fairy Tales..." Read more

9 customers mention "Relatable"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book relatable, richly detailed, and down-to-earth. They also say it's an excellent, insightful look into America's prison system, and very real. Readers also say the book is well thought out and organized to keep their interest.

"Grant is an easy author to read, with a down-to-earth style...." Read more

"...this as research material at some point in the future, as it is richly detailed, giving enough description to really imagine oneself in the prisons,..." Read more

"...depiction of prison life is sometimes uncomfortably stark, but it's very real...." Read more

"Peter's book is an excellent and insightful look into America's prison system...." Read more

4 customers mention "Empathy"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's empathy, saying that he has a compassionate but realistic attitude.

"...The prisoners are drawn with an empathetic hand, no matter how inhuman their behavior is...." Read more

"...But the author has been in prisons and gives a clear eyed, sympathetic, yet unflinching analysis of what prisons are really like and what really..." Read more

"The author combines extensive experience, a compassionate but realistic attitude, and a keen intellect to deliver a comprehensive look at what life..." Read more

"And interesting and both realistic yet compassionate view of life behind bars and the prison system...." Read more

3 customers mention "Pace"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a quick, perhaps too quick, series of telling snapshots.

"Grant is an easy author to read, with a down-to-earth style. The book is a quick, perhaps too quick, series of telling snapshots of his day, and..." Read more

"Honest, Immediate, Gripping Without Hyperbole..." Read more

"great fast read..." Read more

3 customers mention "Practicality"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book practical and mention it has a no-nonsense approach. They also appreciate the common sense approach to reform.

"...I also liked the no nonsense approach, just the facts, and leaves it up to the reader to sort out one's own thoughts on the subject...." Read more

"I like the realistic portrayal of criminals and the common sense approach to reform. Half compassion and half keep them in jail forever." Read more

"Excellent and difficult all in one..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Rich S.
5.0 out of 5 stars A different, and valuable, look at our prison system
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
Grant is an easy author to read, with a down-to-earth style. The book is a quick, perhaps too quick, series of telling snapshots of his day, and his career, as a federal prison chaplain. He repeatedly mentions the differences between his federal prisons and state systems - I would appreciate learning more about his state system experiences.

Grant's is not a perspective often heard, but it's one that should be. This perspective, neither guard nor prisoner, is unique in my reading experience.

Also, most prison-related books are either spun or sensationalized to make a political point. Grant does nothing of the kind. The tone is even and careful. The emotional "place" is of someone caring, but with a well earned, very thick, skin. I think the reason for his even-handed approach is that he's not telling a story. He's giving us a view into his catharsis. And, he's doing it at a distance of a few years, and after a lot of hard thought.

His suggestions for system reform seem radical, but they are worthy of consideration, and I wholeheartedly agree with a number of his conclusions. I do have some reservations, but they are certainly no worse than those I harbor about our current system.

The Kindle format makes the complex chapter/interlude/chapter setup somewhat confusing. At first, I didn't understand the skipping around. I suspect the format would have been far more obvious in the print version. Also - having entire footnoted quotes as hyperlinks, as opposed to just the note numbers, makes it too easy to find oneself buried in the references when attempting to turn the page.

Lastly, the book was proofread as carefully and professionally as it was written, which is far from a universal experience these days.
4 people found this helpful
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Cedarlila
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2013
Verified Purchase
Review: Walls, Wires, Bars and Souls

I chose to read Peter Grant's memoirs of his life as a prison chaplain even knowing it would be a difficult topic to read. I was right, on one level, and on another it is easier than I had ever expected.

His experiences, while set within the most starkly terrifying walls any of us can imagine, are leavened with his dry humor and skillful writing. I found it a smooth read, organized to keep a reader's interest without becoming dry as dust. The prisoners are drawn with an empathetic hand, no matter how inhuman their behavior is.

I may use this as research material at some point in the future, as it is richly detailed, giving enough description to really imagine oneself in the prisons, walking alongside Peter at his tasks. it's a whole different world, one Hollywood frequently gets wrong, and this book is a window into the forgotten realm, one that may disgust you and disturb you, but it exists and we need to be aware of it, and the people locked within it.
8 people found this helpful
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Katherine Altham
4.0 out of 5 stars Solid writing and thesis
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
Having followed Mr. Grant's blog for some time, I was eager to read his memoir of his time spent as a prison chaplain and corrections officer. I was not disappointed. He accurately describes many of the problems of our current correctional system, and, what is more, makes the refreshingly correct point that the primary problem of most institutional therapy is that it confirms an inmate's inclination to think subjectively rather than objectively about their lives, reality as a whole, and their crimes in particular. At the same time, he is realistic in his analysis of the prison population as being one which, on the whole, is unlikely to engage in the methodical and logical thought processes required to make genuine changes in their lives in order to avoid future recidivism.

The book is divided into sets of three chapters. One follows Mr. Grant through part of a typical day at a prison, another discusses certain aspects of prison life (employment, gangs, etc), and the third is a monologue or letter from a prisoner, usually one which demonstrates the overarching point of the chapter group. Upon consideration, this is the only flaw in the book. The three-chapter format necessarily divides each narrative by placing another two chapters between each section of narrative, making it a less than smooth read. I would have preferred that the book be divided into three sections, one devoted to each narrative, rather than have each narrative broken at the end of every chapter.

Overall, however, this is an excellent and well-researched book about the prison system and those within it. (There are about two dozen pages of footnotes and references listed at the end of the book for those interested in further reading on the subject.) I intend to pass it on to a family member who is considering a career in law enforcement, and will recommend it to anyone else I know who is contemplating a similar career.

All in all, four stars.
5 people found this helpful
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