Books by Michael Welch

"The scholarly work of Michael Welch is recognized for its blend of critical theory and human rights. The Bastille Effect is no exception. With lessons from Northern Ireland, the Southern Cone of Latin America, and other postconflict societies, the book reveals the terrible depths--and pains--of political imprisonment."--Kieran McEvoy, Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University, Belfast > "By attending to political cultures, scholars are remapping the ways in which criminal justice is understood. Welch's highly original project on the afterlife of sites of political imprisonment throws new critical light onto the politics of punishment and represents an important contribution to the burgeoning study of comparative penality."--Tim Newburn, London School of Economics

In 1996, Congress passed expansive laws to control illegal immigration, imposing mandatory detention and deportation for even minor violations. Critics argued that such legislation violated civil liberties and human rights. This title offers recommendations for reform along with an understanding of immigration.

ÒPocahontas is FUNÓ--thatÕs what your students will say. This is an accurate version of the story, and it constantly encourages the students to use CRITICAL THINKING to analyze her ethical decisions; but itÕs a READ ALOUD CLASSROOM PLAY, so they BECOME the fabulous characters, they EXPERIENCE the plot! This is SOCIAL READING. They comprehend more-- because they have BECOME what they read. I think it will take about three hours of class time. I wrote it for FIFTH-EIGHTH GRADERS (especially for the GIFTED,but I think older students could also use it because of the sophistication of the ideas. ÒPocahontasÓ is EASY to use for the teacher. Detailed TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS tell you what to say and do. It does NOT cause control problems because everybody is busy all the time mentally. ItÕs perfect for the busy teacher who wants something different for a change, a FUN addition to a unit on EARLY American History.

"CLEOPATRA and the WARRIORS" retells two of Shakespeare"s greatest stories, in language students can understand. To build suspense, it adds an original plot about the evil Snakemen who want to destroy her. This is part of the READ ALOUD PLAY PROGRAM, CCSS based, designed especially for GIFTED STUDENTS, and others in Language Arts/English classes, grades 6-12+. It centers on a SMART, STRONG WOMAN who leads her country. As the students read it aloud in class, they examine her LEADERSHIP skills, and also see the mistakes she makes because of love and pride. The assessment leads them to learn from her experience to improve their own real life.

Argues that the ""war on terror"" is a political charade that delivers illusory comfort, stokes fear, and produces scapegoats used as emotional relief. Drawing on topics such as the Abu Ghraib scandal, Guantanamo Bay, and the controversial Patriot Act, this work looks at the significance of knowledge, language, and emotion in a post-9/11 world.

This esoteric work continues the author's reflections on the relationship between the theory of evolution and the accounts of the creation in the Bible, tracing the growth of consciousness from the amoeba to the spiritual human. Its disturbing conclusions are offset by the triumph of the realized soul in overcoming the temptations of the intellect and rejecting the negative image of its self projected into the fallen world of pagan civilization.

Michael Welch gathers together his contributions to issues in criminal justice. Topics range from the war on drugs, boot camps and institutional violence to AIDS and HIV, capital punishment and the corrections industry. This vision of punishment and corrections emphasizes social control but takes account of social forces.

The resurrection of former prisons as museums has caught the attention of tourists along with scholars interested in studying what is known as dark tourism. Unsurprisingly, due to their grim subject matter, prison museums tend to invert the "e;Disneyland"e; experience, becoming the antithesis of "e;the happiest place on earth."e; In Escape to Prison, the culmination of years of international research, noted criminologist Michael Welch explores ten prison museums on six continents, examining the complex interplay between culture and punishment. From Alcatraz to the Argentine Penitentiary, museums constructed on the former locations of surveillance, torture, colonial control, and even rehabilitation tell unique tales about the economic, political, religious, and scientific roots of each site's historical relationship to punishment.

Ironies of Imprisonment examines in-depth an array of problems confronting correctional programs and policies from the author's singular and consistent critical viewpoint. The book challenges the prevailing logic of mass incarceration and traces the ironies of imprisonment to their root causes, manifesting in social, political, economic, and racial inequality.