Letters from Alcatraz
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Narrated by:
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Emil Nicholas Gallina
About this listen
This special audiobook edition has been completely revised and updated with new content including author interviews with James "Whitey" Bulger and a new chapter on Mickey Cohen.
Note: This audiobook contains graphic depictions of crime and prison violence. Alcatraz Island was home to some of the nation's most notorious criminals.
Prisoners include Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, James "Whitey" Bulger, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert Stroud - the Birdman of Alcatraz, Alvin Karpis, Henri Young, John and Clarence Anglin, and Roy Gardner. In Michael Esslinger's latest book, Letters from Alcatraz, the prisoners' stories come to life in their own words. With over 20 years of research, Esslinger, author of Alcatraz: Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, has salvaged and compiled an extraordinary collection of inmates' letters, many never before published. Letters From Alcatraz includes a foreword by former Alcatraz Officer Larry Quilligan and over 125 letters and original correspondence from inmates both on and off the Rock. Letters From Alcatraz is an epic exploration of a secret cloak-and-dagger culture once hidden behind a mythical curtain. This book is much more than a mere exercise in myth busting. Paired with its contextual and intrinsic complexities, Letters From Alcatraz grants listeners privileged access to the formidable confinement conditions endured by these inmates along with their compelling portraits, and a thorough overview of the rich history of Alcatraz Island. The depth of feeling in its story, its setting, its cast, and sheer inimitability, these are their lives in prose and the stories of the forgotten....
©2008, 2014 Michael Esslinger (P)2014 Michael EsslingerListeners also enjoyed...
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Alcatraz
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Alcatraz - A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years is a comprehensive reference that breaks away from traditional tourist-style books. This audiobook is the result of years of intensive research. Historian Michael Esslinger thoroughly details the prominent events, inmates, and life inside the most infamous prison in American history. His research includes hundreds of hours examining actual Alcatraz inmate files.
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After visiting, I had to learn more!
- By Kim salow on 05-26-23
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Inside Alcatraz
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- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
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Each day we saw the outside world in all its splendour, and each day that view served as a reminder that we had wasted and ruined our lives. Jim Quillen, AZ586 - a runaway, problem child and petty thief - was jailed several times before his twentieth birthday. In August 1942, after escaping from San Quentin, he was arrested on the run and sentenced to forty-five years in prison, and later transferred to Alcatraz.
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A Cautionary Tale of a Life Misspent
- By Rob S. on 03-16-17
By: Jim Quillen
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Escaping Alcatraz
- The Untold Story of the Greatest Prison Break in American History
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- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
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Under the cover of night on June 11, 1962, using only crude homemade tools, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin tunneled their way out of Alcatraz, America's most secure maximum security prison. Enacting a complex escape plan, the trio broke free from the cellblock, made it undetected past patrolling guards, inflated homemade life vests and a raft, and set sail into a foggy history.
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Alcatraz A to Z . . .
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- Narrated by: Chaz Allen
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Performance
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Story
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. 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.
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Great Book, Excellent Narration!
- By Karen Sue Trexler on 05-13-20
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The Inmates: Long Lost Alcatraz Memoirs
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What really took place in Alcatraz prison during the 1940s? Was the "Battle for Alcatraz" an escape attempt or an uprising? The truth is in this book. The first-hand accounts of the inmate's stories in this book have never before been told. These are voices from the grave, finally being heard after 70 years. Every soul has a song. Every person has a story. They were shackled to chains, and their voices dampened. Their whispers went unheard; until now.
By: Lee Olson
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Hard Time
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Performance
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Alcatraz inmate #1186 was Charles Edward Hopkins, and Mr. Hopkins was no ordinary inmate. Not only did he serve time with the Anglin brothers who made the only successful escape from Alcatraz, but he was well-acquainted with notorious crime boss "Bumpy" Johnson, the legendary Italian mafia boss Vito Genevese, and many other infamous Alcatraz inmates. Never before has Charlie's full story been captured and shared with the public. Now at 87 years old, Mr. Hopkins is estimated to be one of the last five or six remaining inmates that served hard time in Alcatraz before its closing.
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Life on The Rock
- By Steven Gerweck on 08-25-23
By: Charles Hopkins, and others
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Alcatraz
- A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years
- By: Michael Esslinger
- Narrated by: Eric Medler
- Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alcatraz - A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years is a comprehensive reference that breaks away from traditional tourist-style books. This audiobook is the result of years of intensive research. Historian Michael Esslinger thoroughly details the prominent events, inmates, and life inside the most infamous prison in American history. His research includes hundreds of hours examining actual Alcatraz inmate files.
-
-
After visiting, I had to learn more!
- By Kim salow on 05-26-23
-
Inside Alcatraz
- My Time on the Rock
- By: Jim Quillen
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Each day we saw the outside world in all its splendour, and each day that view served as a reminder that we had wasted and ruined our lives. Jim Quillen, AZ586 - a runaway, problem child and petty thief - was jailed several times before his twentieth birthday. In August 1942, after escaping from San Quentin, he was arrested on the run and sentenced to forty-five years in prison, and later transferred to Alcatraz.
-
-
A Cautionary Tale of a Life Misspent
- By Rob S. on 03-16-17
By: Jim Quillen
-
Escaping Alcatraz
- The Untold Story of the Greatest Prison Break in American History
- By: Michael Esslinger, David Widner
- Narrated by: Dave Clark
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Under the cover of night on June 11, 1962, using only crude homemade tools, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin tunneled their way out of Alcatraz, America's most secure maximum security prison. Enacting a complex escape plan, the trio broke free from the cellblock, made it undetected past patrolling guards, inflated homemade life vests and a raft, and set sail into a foggy history.
-
-
Alcatraz A to Z . . .
- By POLLY POIZENDEM on 03-27-18
By: Michael Esslinger, and others
-
Alcatraz Screw: My Years as a Guard in America's Most Notorious Prison
- By: George H. Gregory
- Narrated by: Chaz Allen
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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. 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.
-
-
Great Book, Excellent Narration!
- By Karen Sue Trexler on 05-13-20
-
The Inmates: Long Lost Alcatraz Memoirs
- By: Lee Olson
- Narrated by: J. Allan Lewis
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What really took place in Alcatraz prison during the 1940s? Was the "Battle for Alcatraz" an escape attempt or an uprising? The truth is in this book. The first-hand accounts of the inmate's stories in this book have never before been told. These are voices from the grave, finally being heard after 70 years. Every soul has a song. Every person has a story. They were shackled to chains, and their voices dampened. Their whispers went unheard; until now.
By: Lee Olson
-
Hard Time
- The Life of an Incorrigible on Alcatraz
- By: Charles Hopkins, Don DeNevi
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alcatraz inmate #1186 was Charles Edward Hopkins, and Mr. Hopkins was no ordinary inmate. Not only did he serve time with the Anglin brothers who made the only successful escape from Alcatraz, but he was well-acquainted with notorious crime boss "Bumpy" Johnson, the legendary Italian mafia boss Vito Genevese, and many other infamous Alcatraz inmates. Never before has Charlie's full story been captured and shared with the public. Now at 87 years old, Mr. Hopkins is estimated to be one of the last five or six remaining inmates that served hard time in Alcatraz before its closing.
-
-
Life on The Rock
- By Steven Gerweck on 08-25-23
By: Charles Hopkins, and others
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What listeners say about Letters from Alcatraz
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Cyprus Frost
- 06-04-16
Average Performance & An Average Storyline As Well
"Letters From Alcatraz" was a slow listen, it's performance was only average as well as an average storyline too.
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- Brent A. Olsen
- 10-26-16
Boring
Started out ok but it got to where all the letter writing to family and loved ones got to where it it was the same old thing. I expected more than it delivered I guess.
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