Comrade George : An Investigation into the Life, Political Thought, and Assassination of George Jackson

Cambridge, MA: Hovey Street Press / Red Prison Movement, 1973. Soft cover. Near Fine. Expanded second printing of this account of the life, political activity, and death of activist and author George Jackson (1941-1971) during an escape attempt at San Quentin State Prison in 1971. Cambridge, MA: Hovey Street Press / Red Prison Movement, [1973]. Second printing, which expands the first edition from 64 to 120 pages. Saddle-stapled in matte printed wraps, 10-1/2 x 6-7/8 in. 118pp. Black-and-white illustrations throughout, with a color print on yellow cardstock bound-in at center. Laid-in to this copy are two photostat advertisements for the book and a TLS on Hovey Street Press letterhead from one Barry Brown, in which he presents the book to the recipient, hopes he might follow through on an offer to review it and reproduce the included advertisement in Creem Magazine, and outlines the press's policy of supplying free copies of the book to prisoners: "we have already distributed over 2,750 copies of the book and still distribute over 50 free copies a week to prisoners." Very good (+), with curling and wear at corners, mild soiling to wraps. Mann frames Jackson's death as an assassination meant to silence him in advance of a trial that would have drawn unwanted attention to the rampant injustice and racism of the American prison system. Additional sections cover the trial of the San Quentin Six, Jackson's impact on the broader prison abolition movement (including the Attica rebellion), his political thoughts, and an RPM manifesto of sorts, "Towards a Red Prison Movement." Author Mann (b. 1942) is an American anti-war, labor, and civil rights activist who in late 1969 was sentenced to a two-year prison term for his role in a direct action carried out by the Weathermen against the Harvard Center for International Affairs. Comrade George was reprinted in 1974 as a mass-market paperback by Harper & Row under their Perennial Library imprint.