Alcatraz: A History of the Penitentiary Years (INSCRIBED COPY)
by: Michael Esslinger

Softcover. Carmel CA, Ocean View Publishing, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 451 pages, profusely illustrated in b&w. INSCRIBED BY ESSLINGER on the title page. Alcatraz - A History of the Penitentiary Years has sustained as a staple reference for staff members on Alcatraz and remains one of the most comprehensive references chronicling the history. This mammoth reference navigates the island's history through rarely seen documents, interviews and hundreds of pages of historic photographs. Author interviews range from men such as legendary FBI fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger; Dale Stamphill, a principal in the 1938 escape with Doc Barker and Henry Young; to Atom Spy Morton Sobell, the codefendant of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Michael Esslinger thoroughly details the prominent events, inmates, and life inside the most infamous prison in American History. His research included hundreds of hours examining actual Alcatraz inmate case files (including rare original documents from Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and over a hundred others) exploring the prison grounds from the rooftop to the waterfront to help retrace events, escape routes, in addition to conducting various interviews with former inmates & guards. Clean copy.