Escape from Alcatraz: The True Crime Classic

Front Cover
Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed, Mar 14, 2012 - History - 240 pages
In 1963, just weeks before the original publication of this book, the last prisoner was escorted off Devil’s Island and Alcatraz ceased to be a prison. Author J. Campbell Bruce chronicles in spellbinding detail the Rock’s transition from a Spanish fort to the maximum-security penitentiary that housed such infamous inmates as Robert Stroud, aka the Birdman of Alcatraz, and mobster Al “Scarface” Capone. The chapters describing the daring escape attempts by Frank Morris and two accomplices from this “inescapable” prison became the basis for the 1979 Clint Eastwood movie. Discover the intriguing and absorbing saga of Alcatraz, whose name is still synonymous with punitive isolation and deprivation, where America’s most violent and notorious prisoners resided in tortuous proximity to one of the world’s favorite cities.
  • The true-crime classic first published in 1963 is reissued in this special edition.
  • Includes archival photos of the prison and prison life.
  • This story will appeal to Bay Area locals and tourists alike.
  • Alcatraz hosts more than a million visitors each year.
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    Contents

    Chapter 1
    1
    Chapter 2
    8
    Chapter 3
    14
    Chapter 4
    22
    Chapter 5
    34
    Chapter 6
    39
    Chapter 7
    51
    Chapter 8
    58
    Chapter 11
    87
    Chapter 12
    97
    Chapter 13
    105
    Chapter 14
    124
    Chapter 15
    145
    Chapter 16
    155
    Chapter 17
    173
    Maybe
    202

    Chapter 9
    72
    Chapter 10
    84
    Why
    204
    Copyright

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    About the author (2012)

    In addition to authoring ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ in 1963 and The Golden Door: The Irony of Our Immigration Policy in 1954, J. CAMPBELL BRUCE was a noted feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, a lecturer, and a regular contributor to national magazines. J. Campbell Bruce died in 1996.

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