WALLA WALLA, Wash., March 18, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shakespeare was called the greatest writer who ever lived. But try teaching that to a group of inmates in Washington State Penitentiary. Co-authors Roberta Davidson, an English Professor from the Ivy League, and John Kerwin, a television producer-turned-teacher, mingle in the sub-culture of the incarcerated, and their experiences provide a unique and truthful view of modern-day prison life in MacBeth for Murderers.
MacBeth for Murderers is a fascinating true story of how lives collide behind the walls of the Maximum Security Prison in Walla Walla, Washington. The inmates include Rashid, a street-smart drug dealer; Jorge, a bitter man convicted of murder; Tommy, a modern-day Sundance Kid; William, rapist and murderer; and Jim, a murderer at nineteen. Some will deserve a second chance, and some won't. Faith and hope are sparse commodities in a prison, but with supportive educators who inspire the belief in change, some inmates manage to find their path.
Davidson had always loved the works of William Shakespeare. She believes the power of his plays connect on the level of emotional truth with all human beings, perhaps especially with men who have suffered and caused suffering for others. Kerwin is an ex-video producer who discovered unexpected satisfaction in working with prisoners when he applies his talents to educating inmates in the business of television. Witness how fate, Shakespeare, and two unlikely teachers peel away their hard-core exteriors and reveal the men behind their violent crimes in MacBeth for Murderers.
MacBeth for Murderers will be featured in the 2009 BookExpo America (New Title Showcase) at New York City, New York on May 28-31, 2009. For more information, log on to www.Xlibris.com.
About the Authors
Roberta Davidson is Chair of the English Department of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She has taught Medieval and Renaissance literature there for the last seventeen years, and, at the same time, taught part time at WSP for five years.
John Kerwin, a television and film producer, director and writer, left Los Angeles to pursue a second career in writing. He found the Pacific Northwest to be the ideal environment and lifestyle for that pursuit, and his experiences in Walla Walla resulted in MacBeth for Murderers.
MacBeth for Murderers * by Roberta Davidson & John Kerwin
Publication Date: November 30, 2005
Trade Paperback; $17.84; 163 pages; 978-1-4134-8742-8
Cloth Hardback; $27.89; 163 pages; 978-1-4134-8743-5
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