A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR \u2022 FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION \u2022 A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK \u2022 NATIONAL BESTSELLER \u2022 Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America\u2019s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black \u2022 LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Elle, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, Kirkus Reviews \u201cLike Orwell\u2019s 1984 and Atwood\u2019s The Handmaid\u2019s Tale, Adjei-Brenyah\u2019s book presents a dystopian vision so\u2026illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we\u2019re capable of doing.\u201d \u2014The Washington Post \u201cThis book will change you!…A masterpiece.\u201d \u2014Jenna Bush Hager, The Today Show\u2019s #ReadWithJenna She felt their eyes, all those executioners\u2026 Loretta Thurwar and Hamara \u201cHurricane Staxxx\u201d Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program in America\u2019s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It\u2019s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are com\u00adpeting for the ultimate prize: their freedom. In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death matches before packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thur\u00adwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, Thurwar considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games. But CAPE\u2019s corporate own\u00aders will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar\u2019s path have devastating consequences. Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors, to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system\u2019s unholy alli\u00adance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a \u201cnew and necessary American voice\u201d (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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