Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

I found this to be a tough read, not because I think it is wrong about anything, just that the brutality of it was too much for me. The book revolves around anti-Black violence (violence against clack people), the prison system, and racialized capitalism, all the while insistently reminding us of the blood we have on our hands for mostly ignoring it. The stories have an exaggerated quality, but only just, especially if we remember back to the Trump Administration and his words of violence against people of color and his expansion of private prisons for immigrants, where children were separated from their parents and place in cages--all verified--and then the allegations that these private prisons were involved in sexual abuse of children and then trafficking them is less well substantiated but entirely believable. If re-elected, the former president promises expansion of these prison camps. So, yes, the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, which garners millions of dollars for the private prison industry, and centers on gladiatorial combat: CAPE participants belong to teams of inmates called Chains who fight to the death, is all too believable. The book also shines a light on corporations that profit from the multi-billion dollar prison industry and turns a blind eye to all the violence contained within.