James Kilgore and Vic Liu at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes JAMES KILGORE—award-winning author Understanding Mass Incarceration and Understanding E-Carceration—and VIC LIU—multi-disciplinary information artist and author—for a discussion of their new book The Warehouse: A Visual Primer on Mass Incarceration.

About The Warehouse

The most eye-popping statistics alone cannot relate the enormity of its psychological and societal impacts. This concise, illustrated primer is a collaboration between one of mass incarceration’s sharpest opponents, James Kilgore, and information artist Vic Liu. It brings to life the histories and means of daily survival of the marginalized people ensnared in this racist, ableist system of class-based oppression. The book elegantly weaves together the most insightful activist scholarship with vivid testimonials by incarcerated people as they fight back against oppression and imagine freedom.

Those targeted for incarceration do not simply submit to a monochromatic existence behind bars. The Warehouse showcases the abolition futures being crafted from the inside as people resist through direct action and artistic expression. This book is designed to inform, enrage, and ultimately inspire the same radical hope propelling incarcerated underminers of the carceral state.

Praise for The Warehouse

“James Kilgore is one of my favorite commentators regarding the phenomenon of mass incarceration and the necessity of pursuing truly transformative change.” —Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

“An essential resource for classroom teaching and movement building from someone on the front lines of the battle to dismantle the prison-industrial complex.” —Alex S. Vitale, author of The End of Policing

“This book vividly activates the senses in its sharp, accessible, and principled analysis of the scope and scale of the carceral state. From cops to cages, from ‘get tough’ politics to the economics of phone calls, e-carceration, and rural prison building, and from incremental legislative reforms to the visionary organizing of abolitionists, Kilgore and Liu break down the contours of this warehouse and illuminate our paths toward dismantling it.” —Judah Schept, author of Coal, Cages, Crisis: The Rise of the Prison Economy in Central Appalachia

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.