Seminary of Virtue

Drawn from the author's doctoral dissertation, this monograph on education in US prisons examines the long history of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and explores the evolving character of educational programs and their relationship to philosophies of incarceration and inmate reform. The work covers a broad time period and documents the shift from moral and religious instruction intended for the reform of prisoners in the early nineteenth century to a medicalized vision of rehabilitation at the turn of the century, to more modern efforts at vocational and remedial education. Kahan is a historian and the author of Eastern State Penitentiary: A History. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).