August 1, 2021
The daughter of a slain prison guard tells the story of her quest for truth, justice, and recompense for all prison worker families affected by the infamous 1971 Attica uprising. Miller had just started first grade when her father was beaten by Attica rioters and left to die. His brutal, tragic death brought chaos to a once-happy family. The author began suffering from mysterious stomach problems, while her mother "was grieving herself while taking care of two young girls and a newborn." Inevitably, Miller's family deflected most of the questions she later had about her father. She grew up knowing only that Attica prisoners were "monsters." Meanwhile, everyone else regarded her with a maddening sympathy that suggested they "knew more about the death of our father than we did." The lessons she learned in high school history class about Attica proved especially troubling in how they sympathized with prison rioters. It was this contradiction that led Miller to research the riots to learn what really happened to her father. For the next two decades, she followed the litigation that eventually ended in the late 1990s with damage awards to inmates Miller had held responsible for her father's death. Outraged that Attica prison families had never received redress, the author co-founded the Forgotten Victims of Attica. As the leader of FVOA, she met with--and, to her surprise, later befriended--former inmate leaders who helped her understand that Attica prisoners and families were both victims of a state penal system bent on hiding the truth. Miller provides a welcome testimonial to the hardships suffered by Attica prison families and to the healing power of reconciliation. However, the drama inherent in the story and the narrative momentum suffer from redundant, pedestrian prose. Miller's courage and diligence are commendable, but the book is a dull treatment of an impassioned tale.
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July 1, 2021
Miller was five years old in September 1971 when she heard the whistle at the nearby Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York where her father worked as a guard. That whistle marked the start of the deadliest prison riot in U.S. history, one with many victims, including Miller's father who was the only person to be murdered by inmates. The violence changed many lives, those of both employees and inmates and their families. As Attica's fiftieth anniversary approaches, Miller and investigative reporter Craig chronicle the long quest to secure truth, compensation, justice, and an apology from the state of New York for covering up the facts, including what actually happened to Miller's father. Miller cofounded Forgotten Victims of Attica, and became deeply involved in the negotiations, persistence, and advocacy required to bring acknowledgement by the state of the appalling conditions that led to the riot, the reckless storming of the prison, and mistreatment of victims in the aftermath. This is a personal, affecting, and eye-opening account of a pivotal tragedy on the seemingly endless road to prison reform.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
June 17, 2022
On the 50th anniversary of one of the deadliest prison riots in the United States, this book highlights the personal quest by Miller (cofounder, Forgotten Victims of Attica) for answers about her father's death in the 1971 uprising at New York State's Attica Correctional Facility. Forty-three men were killed over the course of five-day riot: 10 correctional officers and 33 men imprisoned at Attica. Miller's father, William "Billy" Quinn, died when the author was only five years old; he was the riot's first casualty and the only correctional officer to be killed by the prisoners--the majority of the men who died (39 out of the 43, including 9 correctional officers) were killed by law enforcement gunfire. For more than 30 years, Miller searched sought answers about her father's death--who killed him? how did he die?--a journey that she recounts in this compelling, well-written book. Along the way, she befriended several of the imprisoned men who had participated in the Attica uprising and who helped her piece together information regarding Quinn's death. Among the book's conclusions is that the prison and state officials lied about the events of the uprising. It finds evidence that when law enforcement retook Attica on the riot's final, bloody day (when 39 men were killed in a hail of police bullets), they never attempted to rescue the correctional officers being held hostage inside the prison. VERDICT Miller's compassionate book (coauthored by investigative journalist Craig, who has reported on Attica for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) discusses the state's deception around the Attica tragedy, grapples with forgiveness and reparations, and calls for prison reform.--Kristy White
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