brian cassidy bookselle

nary fame has won it a measure of protection” (10-11).
Articles on rape, sexuality, drugs, AIDS, race, violence, rehabilitation,
and the like appeared, and under Rideau’s editorship the magazine
won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the American Bar
Association’s Silver Gavel Award, two George Polk Awards, and was
the first prison publication to be nominated for the National Magazine
Award.
In an approximately 1750 word, December 10, 1979 TLS (with a copy of
his 2pp. 1979 resume), Rideau extensively outlines a novel of prison
life he has been contracted to write for Doubleday upon his release
(a novel that was never published), and goes on to mention perhaps
the most notable article ever published by THE ANGOLITE, a Polk Award
expose on sexuality, violence, and rape in prison, authored by Rideau
that appeared in the November–December 1979 issue (present here)
and titled: “PRISON: The Sexual Jungle.”
Additional within the correspondence is a March 7, 1977, 8pp. manuscript
interview (detail below), conducted by Sulzer (likely their
first contact). An unfiltered question-and-answer — likely passed
back and forth between a visitor’s partition — on the issues of incarceration
in Angola and the ANGOLITE’S role in it, reflecting on legal
issues, black militancy, mental health, rehabilitation, and more.
Rideau was retried and convicted of a lesser charge of manslaughter,
earning release from prison for time served in 2005, after 44 years of
incarceration. Since then he has worked as a capital punishment legal
consultant and regular on the lecture circuit. He also continued
writing, contributing to many national publications and authoring a
memoir: IN THE PLACE OF JUSTICE (Knopf, 2010).
Back issues of THE ANGOLITE are scarce. And while OCLC notes dozens
of holdings under the title, the majority are modern issues, from the
1990s and later. Outside of Louisiana, where at least 10 institutions
note similar runs, only the NYPL appears to hold any substantial run
from this important Rideau era.
A strong selection from the most significant
era of likely the only uncensored
prison news magazine in the
United States, authored primarily by
African-American inmates, with obvious
stylistic influence from the black
power movement — together with a
small though revealing group of correspondence
from its chief editor.
A list of issues and a more complete
description is available upon request.
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