BAD : The Autobiography of James Carr (NABAT)

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Summary: classic raw street cultre in the trad. of goines&icebergslim
Review: any book that starts out with the line "when i was 9 years old i burned down my school"is definatley pulling no punches, no not a damm one. inside this world we are taken through the early history of the L.A. gangbanging of the 60's,the deppression and hopelessness of an inmate in the 70's. and finally with a healthy dose of monumental juxtaposition we end our relationship with a man on the verge of a possibly promising career as a writer he is murdered shortly after completion of his one and saddly only novel.

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Summary: prison wars of the 70"s in california state prisons
Review: I read this book when it was first published and until recently had always wondered why Carr was killed. I always felt that it was a contract murder but didnt have a clue as to why the contract on carr was carried out. Mr carr was it seems a very bright, well versed man. It" interseting to note that despite all the violence and mayhem. of which Carr contributed was a very itelligent man who was never able to seperate his inate intelligence from his penchant for violence. Mr carr was a victim of his past deeds and very much a product of the era in which he lived. A good read, disturbing because conditions in California State Prisons remain for the most very much the same today as they did in Carr"s time.

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Summary: Professional Inmate
Review: It's a fascinating book. Incredible actually when you discover that Carr began his preparing for his career as an inmate when he was 9 yrs old. Note: he committed robberies etc. inside and outside of jail, but he was not a professional criminal. He was a professional inmate; and as such, he was cunning, devious, and diabolical. He was also - although he'd deny it - assexual. The only sex he had outside of prison occurred during gang rapes or trains just as if he was in prison. Sex was mechanical; simply a way of displaying power. Be that as it was, it is even more incredible that he was studying and enjoying calculas. What a wasted life.

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Summary: Hardcore Prison Tales
Review: The book is very well written and not at all dated. Best Prison book I've read. Extremely honest. Deals with race wars, sexual predators, murder...This guy doesn't make excuses, he just tells it how it is. He admits that he was a guy who didn't want to work so he did liquor store robberies. Every time he got out of prison, the first thing he did was get caught for something & sent back. He was in prision during the time that the Mexican Mafia was starting and has some interesting insight on that. Very involved in race wars and riots. It's interesting how he moves from institution to institution (San Quentin, Tracy, LA County, among others) and always runs into cons that he knows. This guy was so bad that he got moved from a juvenile facility to San Quentin at the age of 16. An all around bad guy. Great read.