Prisoners of Liberation 1957 by Allyn and Adele Rickett - China - Communist Party - Prisons - Espionage - Penology

Title: Prisoners of Liberation

Author: Allyn and Adele Rickett

Description: Stated First Edition. Beige cloth boards with blue lettering on spine. Pages are lightly toned, but interior is otherwise clean and unmarked. Dust jacket chipped at head and foot of spine; small chip to top edge of front panel; corner wear; not price clipped ($4.75). DJ in archival sleeve. xiii, 288 pp. 8.5 x 5.75 inches.

The account of Allyn and Adele Rickett, an American academic couple, and their four year imprisonment (1951-1955) by the Communist Chinese for espionage. They traveled to Beijing in 1948 as scholars on a Fulbright Fellowship where they studied and taught under the regime of Chiang Kai-shek and then the Communists. Previously, during the Second World War, Allyn had served as an officer in Marine intelligence. He continued in that work, reporting what he saw and heard in Chinese intellectual and political circles, which resulted in his eventual arrest.

It tells the story of how a modern revolutionary regime based on an ancient culture treats its prisoners. The Ricketts found themselves the fellow cell-mates of ex-landlords held for murder and rape, Kuomintang agents, spies and saboteurs, and speculators. The gallery of fellow-prisoners reveals the many faceted aspects of Chinese life and the ills of the old society. As a study in penology, it reveals the group techniques used in the Chinese penal system that sought to help the prisoner learn why they had been imprisoned, a socialist technique, rather than the individualist one prevalent in the West.

Walter Allyn "Rick" Rickett (1921-2020) was a World War II veteran, an American historian, and a Professor Emeritus of Chinese and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Adele Rickett (1919-1994) was also an academic authority on China and taught Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania.

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good+
Jacket Condition: Very Good–

Publisher: Cameron Associates
Place: New York
Year: 1957

Language: English

ISBN: n/a

Keywords: spies, China, penology, Communist Party of China, prison, espionage, intelligence work, politics, 1950's, CCP,