Letters from Attica: 50th Anniversary Annotated Edition

Now presented with a son’s thirty years of research to provide new context.

In June 1970, Sam Melville pleaded guilty to a series of politically motivated bombings in New York City and was sentenced to thirteen to eighteen years in jail. His imprisonment took him to Attica, where he helped lead the massive rebellion of September 9, 1971—and where, four days later, he was shot to death by state police.

During nearly two years in prison, Melville wrote letters to his friends, his attorneys,...