The Struggle Within: Prisons, Political Prisoners, and Mass Movements in the United States

by Dan Berger

An accessible yet wide-ranging historical primer, The Struggle Within discusses how mass imprisonment has been a state-sponsored tool of repression deployed against diverse, left-wing social movements over the last 50 years.

Author Dan Berger goes on to examine some of the most dynamic social movements across half a century, including black liberation, Puerto Rican independence, Native American sovereignty, Chicano radicalism, white antiracist and working-class mobilizations, pacifist and antinuclear campaigns, earth liberation, and animal rights.

Berger’s encyclopedic knowledge of social movements in the United States provides a rich comparative history of numerous campaigns that continue to shape contemporary politics.

The book also offers a little-heard voice in contemporary critiques of mass incarceration by investigation how mass incarcerations have occurred within a slew of social movements that have provided steep challenges to state power.