nationbooksprojectofnation
large_book

Buy It Online
    Amazon >
    Barnes & Noble >
    IndieBound.org >
    Powells.com >

Altered States of America

Outlaws and Icons, Hitmakers and Hitmen

Richard Stratton
October 2005     ISBN: 1560257776

Whether talking to Norman Mailer or a prison guard, Hunter S. Thompson or a drug smuggler, Sean Penn or a CIA agent, Stratton has an uncommon, empathetic understanding of his subjects. He mines the heart of another America, a place far removed from suburbs and brightly lit main streets.

Among the dramatic subjects outlaw-turned-journalist Stratton takes on in Altered States of America are Greg Scarpe, a murderous Columbo mob hitman who was secretly an FBI informant; Bonecrusher, a guard at Corcoran penitentiary who witnessed bloody gladiator fights between convicts; the top-secret MK-ULTRA program in which the CIA secretly dosed unsuspecting civilians and its own agents with LSD; and Joe Stassi, America's oldest living gangster, who was ordered to murder his best friend.

About the Authors

Richard Stratton was arrested and convicted in 1982 under the Kingpin Statute for importation of marijuana. Originally sentenced to twenty-five years without parole, Stratton became a jailhouse lawyer and had his sentence voided. His novel, Smack Goddess, was published in 1990, the same year that he was released from prison. Stratton co-wrote and produced the feature film Slam, which won the Camera d'Or at Cannes and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, the Emmy Award-winning Thug Life in DC and many other documentaries, and created the Showtime series "Street Time," based on his own life. He is the founding editor of Prison Life, and has written for GQ, Esquire, Newsweek, Details, Penthouse and Story. Stratton lives in New York City.
signup

for our FREE e-mail newsletter, a monthly dispatch of events, excerpts, commentary by Nation Books and Nation Institute writers.



Deborah Stone's Book Tour

July 7 - November 2 | Across the United States
Deborah Stone, a Nation Books author, recently published her fourth book, The Samaritan's Dilemma. Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect calls it "a brilliant and persuasive statement of the case for organized compassion—not out of sentimentality but for the viability of society and our own self regard as a decent people." Listen to her on the radio and get a copy of the book signed at a bookstore on Stone's book tour. Find the schedule here.

August 25 | 6 pm
Bruce Mau Leads Green Symposium
(Denver, Colorado)
Institute Fellow Bruce Mau will lead the Green Constitutional Congress Symposium, which will cover a wide array of green-related topics. The symposium will take place at Buell Theater in Denver; it is produced by the Rhode Island School of Design and University of Colorado-Denver. The symposium is part of the larger event, Dialog:City at the DNC. For more information, click here. MORE

September 13
2008 ELECTION: What's Really at Stake?
(Cooper Union Auditorium, 30 Cooper Square, NYC)
Come listen to Institute Fellows Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill (also a Nation Books author of Blackwater) speak at a benefit for The Indypendent newspaper at Cooper Union Auditorium in New York City. Additional panelists to be announced; meet the speakers at a special pre-event reception. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit indypendent.org or call (212)-221-0521. MORE