<DIV><p>"Superb."?<B>Kurt Vonnegut</B></p><p>"Wicker's story though could not be more vital today… <I>A Time To Die</I> compels us to understand the inhumanity of prisons in America, one of the greatest injustices of our time, and of a state that has no compunction about murdering prisoners and jailers alike. Think Attica forty years ago, think Pelican Bay today. Then act."?<B>Michael Ratner</B>, president, Center for Constitutional Rights</p><p>"[<I>A Time to Die</I>'s] lessons about the racist underpinnings of mass incarceration, about the cynical politics that determine life-or-death decisions, and about the conditions that deny prisoners their basic humanity?are as relevant today as when it was first published."?<B>Liliana Segura</B>, associate editor, <I>The Nation</I></p><p>"A powerful book."?<B>Anthony Lewis</B> for <I>New York Times</I></p><p>In September 1971 the inmates of Attica prison revolted, took hostages, and forced the authorities into four days of desperate negotiation. At the outset the rebels demanded?and were granted?the presence of a group of observers to act as unofficial mediators. <B>Tom Wicker</B>, then the associate editor of <I>The New York Times</I>, was one of those summoned. In four crucial days, he learned more, saw more, and felt more than in most of the rest of his life. In the end, a police attack was launched, and as a result dozens of prisoners, as well as prison employees, were killed.</p><p><B>Tom Wicker</B>, a former reporter, Washington bureau chief, and columnist for <I>The New York Times</I>, is the author of several books, including <I>On the Record</I>. He lives in Rochester, Vermont.</p><br></DIV>